Picture Gallery - Smithsonian Kite Festival 2003  - Click on the picture for a larger version (all photos by Doug Charleville unless otherwise noted)

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Volunteers giving away free event kites... ... and the crowd waiting to receive them.  Several thousand kites were given out in a couple of hours. Some of the folks arriving for the kite making competition, which is the heart of the event.
Paul LaMasters readies his Tirips. You regularly saw sophisticated kites made from the latest materials next to paper kites with dowel frames. These kids look like they made their kites as a class project.  Everyone is welcome - from "professional" kite makers to those who have never tried to build a kite.
I tried to pick out some that I would select as winning kites from the folks waiting to be judged.  I did pretty good!  This Genki did win, though I don't recall exactly what.  You can get that info from the Smithsonian web page. Paul's Tirips did well. Scott Spencer won in Rokakku class.
Great decoration and another prize winner. Big Rokakku and another prize winner. Meow.  Nice appliqué job.  Winner.
Adrienne Balmer gets her Valleydale Farms Genki ready.  Won for Funniest kite. It looked great in the air! Adrienne points out special features to the judges.
Ed Shenk shows off his Pyro Delta Looks like a plain white kite, but here you can see some of Ed's trademark stitching.  His kites always feature custom looks like this. Harold Ames readies his Iris Edo for flying.
Another kite that looks great flying. Shot of the intricate bridles on the Edo. Framework is interesting too.
Mearle Balmer's Tricoflex ready for it's turn in the ring. Tricoflex flying.  I really like this shot. Another intricate bridle setup.
Paul wowing the judges with the flying ability of the Tirips Another nice kite (and winner) waits its turn to fly for the judges I never found the owner to ask about this Rok.  Great kite.