A kite-flying group out of Haiti will visit Antigua next week for the staging of the annual Antigua & Barbuda International Kite Festival being put on by Tropikites Inc, a national kite-flying club, Neto Baptiste reports in the Antigua Observer.

This is according to President Calvin Pilgrim, who said no international participation is anticipated due to the fact that Easter will arrive much later than usual this year. He confirmed, however, that a group of Haitian kite fanatics will be on island for the April 23 to 25 event.

“Normally, we have groups coming from England and USA mainly, but his year, because Easter is late this year, our event is clashing with a number of other international events so we won’t be having, unfortunately, any international participants, but we will be having a kite club from Haiti that will be here flying with us this year,” Pilgrim said.

Despite the lack of international participation this year, Pilgrim assured, however, that the event will be just as exciting as there will be a number of prizes at stake throughout the two days of flying and building of kites.

“We will have a prize for the person who shows up with the smallest kite; the person who shows up with the biggest kite; the person who has the most kites in the skies; the youngest flyer; oldest flyer; and we also have competition for the best decorative kite, (and) for the person who shows up with the most unusual kite,” Pilgrim said.

“One of the things the kids look forward to a lot is our 10K challenge where we will put the kids in groups of 10 and supply all the materials for them to make 10 kites in 10 minutes. So 10 kids will make 10 kites in 10 minutes and the winner of that competition gets bragging rights plus $100.”

The event will conclude with what Pilgrim has dubbed a “grand finale” on April 25 at Devil’s Bridge where participants will have a chance to fly their creations as they compete for bragging rights.

“That event is our grand finale and when we pull out all the stops where we bring out all the big guns; that is, when you will see 45-foot kites, you will see lots of inflatable kites, and that’s when we transform the skies at Devil’s Bridge into a Kaleidoscope of colours,” he said.

The first event will be held on April 23 in the form of a fun fly and kite-building competition at Freeman’s Village Playing Field from 9 am to 5 pm before the “grand finale at Devil’s Bridge on April 25 from 9 am to 5 pm.

For the original report go to  http://www.antiguaobserver.com/?p=57111