‘No winter doldrums here’

Huge crowds revel in Color The Wind

by Marianne Gasaway

Tens of thousands of people took full advantage of a blue-sky February day to enjoy legions of kites flying high above the lake Saturday at the Color The Wind Festival.  

“I guess a lot of people had the same winter doldrums I’ve been feeling,” said Marty Walker from Ames.  She was attending her first kite festival and vowed it wouldn’t be her last.  “It’s been so much fun seeing these huge kites — and even the ones that spin on the lake.  It just makes everyone smile.”

Larry Day, who established the kite festival two decades ago with his wife, Kay, said it was the smiles on the ground which made him enjoy the day.  This year the Days stepped back from spearheading the entire festival and shepherded the Chamber of Commerce as the new organizers.  

“We thank Larry and Kay Day for sharing their love of this sport and event with us and we are very pleased with how it all went,” said Chamber CEO and President Stacy Doughan.  

Doughan said it is difficult to estimate 

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the number of people who attended the festival, but said the Chamber’s website received more page views on a single day than it did on its peak day during Fourth of July activities.  More than 14,000 clicked onto the site Friday, easily surpassing the 8,900 who visited the web page on the busiest day during the July 4 holiday.

“I don’t think we would have anticipated the response, but we are thrilled by it,” said Doughan.  

The kite festival shared another similarity with the Fourth of July — traffic.  Police Chief Pete Roth said traffic was heavy.

“Vehicles were attempting to get to the event.  This meant looking for parking, waiting for festival participants to cross streets and walkways, and watching the kites on the lake. The backups were generally due to the high volume of cars in Clear Lake.” he said.  At the request of the Iowa State Patrol, local officers also checked on Interstate 35 and Highway 18 backups.  All were attributed to the number of people making their way to the kite festival. “Overall, I was pleased that thousands were able to safely enjoy this year’s Color of the Wind Kite Festival and visit Clear Lake. Many for the first time. Motorists were patient and cautious while driving in town. The event organizers, the chamber, volunteers, and various city departments did a great job hosting the festival.”

Walker said she first became aware of the kite festival after seeing a story about it on the CBS Sunday Morning show a few years ago.  This year Midwest Living gave a splashy recommendation to the event and Doughan said that, combined with other digital marketing initiatives aimed at those within driving distance of Clear Lake, likely contributed to success.  

“Larry and Kay also have built a loyal following and when one family attends, they usually come back and another family that they told about it also come.  It’s been a snowball effect for years,” Doughan added. 

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