THUNDER BAY — Selina, James and Wyatt Holliger were among the many families that came out to fly their kite for the Kite Festival at Chippewa Park on Sunday.
“It’s pretty fun. I’m glad that we decided to brave the weather and come out during the little sunshine break,” said Selina.
James agreed flying their kite was going pretty good.
“We weren’t sure how the rain was going to be, but (it) turned out actually really nice,” he said.
Their son, Wyatt said he was also having lots of fun.
“(It's) a great time. And (we're) enjoying the family time and the bouncy castles and the food,” said Selina.
Despite it being a little bit wet, the festival had a pretty decent turnout, said Karen Kadolph, the City of Thunder Bay's special events developer.
By the early afternoon, there were roughly between 250 to 500 people who came out to the festival, according to Kadolph.
“Luckily, we have been able to run everything that we planned on running, so that’s kind of nice, but definitely with the weather, it has definitely impacted (it),” said Kadolph.
“We’ve heard that I think it’s raining in town a little bit more than it’s been raining out here, so it’s definitely slowed down things a little bit from last year.”
However, with the Kite Festival, she explained they still have lots of different things and activities going on.
Some of these activities included a kite-flying field, a cricket demonstration, indoor activities, concessions both inside and outside, a couple of drag queens performing bubble art and face painting, inflatable bouncy castles and operational rides.
The festival also featured visits from Science North, the Boreal Museum, DSSAB, the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, the Community Arts and Heritage Education Project, as well as community groups and artisans.
“We actually again have seen a decent amount of people come out. We’ve had a bit of turnover too and so just happy that those people have been able to come out today,” said Kadolph.
Kadolph said it was also their first time having a green certification this year.
“We started with Kite Festival to try and green this event and then we’ll continue to kind of bring that into our other events,” said Kadolph.
Working with EcoSuperior, she said they offer a couple of different levels that people can now choose for their event.
Kadolph said they were certified bronze for this year and it was really exciting.
“With that, we have done the shuttle service. We’ve also offered wristbands instead of the single-use paper for the rides and then we have a bike ballet. We have active transportation maps. We have done increased recycling as well,” said Kadolph.
“And then at the end of the event, we will be weighing all of our garbage and our recycling and getting a bit of a baseline for what we did this year and then look to next year. And then also try to incorporate this into the other city events as well.”
Overall, she said there are a couple of different initiatives that they’ve done this year and are also excited to grow.
Kadolph thanked everybody for coming out and helping them put this together.
“It’s been a really great thing. It’s really good for the community,” said Kadolph.
