The annual Martha’s Vineyard Wind Festival is blowing into Ocean Park in Oak Bluffs on Saturday, October 12. Wind power will set kites to flying, frisbees to sailing and boats to floating as folks gather at the park. A free kite-making session for children is from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with flying competitions beginning at noon.
Teens can compete from 1 to 2 p.m. and the adult competition is from 2 to 4 p.m. There will be frisbee games throughout the afternoon and model sailboat races for children are planned.
The Martha’s Vineyard Wind Festival takes place on Saturday, Oct. 12, but no need to wait to get in the kite-flying mood. The poster for the event was created by Traeger di Pietro and is available now for $20. Sales of the poster benefit the American Cancer Society’s breast cancer research. Posters are available at the Field Gallery in West Tisbury, Craftworks in Oak Bluffs, the Island Art Gallery in Vineyard Haven or by contacting Holly Alaimo at 508-693-5444.
Summer is on the wane and now, admit it, you’re thinking, yikes, in trying to do everything, be everywhere, have the best summer ever, you forgot how to relax on your vacation. Never fear, there is still time to change course.
The wind is free and there will likely be plenty of it for tomorrow’s first Martha’s Vineyard Wind Festival in Oak Bluffs. The kite-flying festival at Ocean and Waban Parks is a merger of many new and old ideas. It’s a celebration for the end of the summer, an opportunity to gather for fun and fellowship. It’s string, paper and tails taking over the skies.
The event begins at 11 a.m. with kite making in Waban Park. Kites will be flying through the afternoon from noon to 6 p.m. mostly in Ocean Park. It is free and open to all ages.
The MV Wind Festival was scheduled to take place last weekend, but forecasts of hurricane force winds didn't bode well for kite flying. Instead, the festival will be held this Saturday from 11 a.m. to dusk at Ocean and Waban parks in Oak Bluffs.
The event is free, but kite registration is required to be eligible to win a prize. Registration is onsite and will close 30 minutes before each event.
The festival will feature a variety of exhibits, activities and demonstrations, as well as sailing and windsurfing off the town beach.
Something there is in the American soul that soars with kites that soar! Poet Joyce Carol Oates wrote those words, but 88-year-old Micki Riddick embodied them at Saturday’s Wind Festival.
It wasn’t just that Micki put down her cane to wander Ocean Park for two hours under her kite, it was the expression on her face as she did it, her son in law following her around as best he could. Micki has been coming to Oak Bluffs for more than 60 years, her daughter Cheryl Riddick Cross said, but this was surely one of her best days here.
