There was a kite festival this past Memorial Day weekend at Laing Lake, where giant kites were flown, paper rockets blasted into the air upwards of 300 feet and multiple candy cannons.
The kite festival was hosted by My Wind Stuff. The owners, Curt and Kendra Giebler, are dedicated to their job as they had sold their homes and put all their money into the company. They live in a motor home and travel nationwide, putting on shows.
Alliance is their kick-off to their nationwide tour, where they have big dreams for the Alliance kite festival’s future.
“We travel and we live full-time on the road. Our house is a motor home. When we decided to go full-time, we sold our homes that way. We weren’t grounded and never had to go back anywhere. It is our fourth year doing the Alliance kite festival, and we’re looking to build it. We could fill this park. I do shows with 50,000 people. We want this to be a 5,000-person event.” said Curt Giebler.
Saturday was the big day for the kite festival. There were about 100 kids in attendance for the candy cannons and the paper rockets.
They posted two cannons on the Northwest side of Laing Lake on top of the hill, where kids lined up eagerly waiting for them to go off. Curt Giebler gave candy and cash prizes out of his own pocket. He would write a dollar amount on pieces of candy and whoever found those pieces won the cash.
Sunday was the last day of the kite festival, where Curt was struggling with the wind to get kites flying and had some things to say about the event.
“Weather wise it was touch and go, but we had pretty good attendance. The candy cannons went off without a hitch. We did some great paper rocket making and stuff yesterday. The wind has just been intermittent, but we took advantage of the winds we’ve had and kept some things going. The crowds were good and that’s what makes a kite festival,” said Curt Giebler.
