Canada’s largest kite festival reaches new heights in Hopeville

The sky’s the limit for the Hopeville Kite Festival, which broke its attendance record again this year.

In 2024, 4200 people attended the free weekend event. This year, over 3,300 people attended on Saturday alone.

The whimsical aerial display can be seen kilometres away as hundreds of kites, big, small, and gargantuan, take to the skies over a Southgate wheat field. The event is now drawing attention from across the province and attracting some of the best kite flyers in the world.

“It amazes me the diversity of the crowd. There are people here from all over Ontario, if not all over North America. It’s astounding,” said Southgate May Brian Milne. “It’s amazing the kind of draw it has.”

Karen Cox, president of the South Grey Chamber of Commerce, said the over 40 kite flyers who travel to shows internationally told her the Hopeville Kite Festival is now the largest in Canada.

We do it for the love of the flying.

On Sunday afternoon, under an overcast sky, a family from Colombia who now live in Toronto and a family originally from Romania who now live in Durham were among the over 1,000 people in attendance.

“A lot of people have never seen something like this before, and that’s part of the draw, I think,” Milne said.

There was plenty of competition for eyeballs above the farm field southwest of Dundalk as gigantic dragons, owls, fish, and a massive purple octopus soared overhead.

A lot of those eyes locked onto the Windjammers International Kite Performance Team when it was their turn to perform what member Michael Carlisle calls “kite ballet” — a synchronized kite show synced up to music.

Each member of the Windjammers flies 13 kites during the show. Some of them have been performing since 1983, when the Windjammers formed out of Belle Isle, Mich.

As the kites dived and darted through the air with precision, an onlooker remarked: “How do those lines not get tangled?”

“We do tangle them,” Carlisle later explained. “Then we work out the maneuvers to untangle them.”

Carlisle said if someone can fly a kite and get along with people, they can join a kite team.

Gary Maynard, an original member of the Windjammers, said the team performs at seven-to-eight kite shows a year these days, about half as many as they did before the pandemic.

He said the Hopeville Kite Festival is one of the better shows on the circuit now.

“I’ve never had to do so many, ‘Oh, could you take a picture with me?’ It was very cool,” he said.

Walter Corsetti from Bolton said kite flying started as a replacement after his son’s competitive baseball playing days came to an end. Suddenly, he and his wife had their summers wide open again, without a hobby or destination.

Corsetti credited his wife with suggesting kite flying. He used to keep a small kite in the trunk of his car. He picked up some supplies and went to a festival in Toronto.

“Within five minutes, by the time I had my van unloaded, there were about 10 guys around me. They’re asking what I’m flying, how long I’ve been flying, and if I have everything I need. They’re giving me kites, string, rope,” Corsetti said. “They’re all my best friends now.”

On Sunday, Corsetti was flying a family of owls, a mother and two little owls, chasing a mouse. He called it “Dinner.”

“It’s a lot of fun, but it can get expensive. You’ll need to be prepared to do a little learning,” he said of the hobby.

His setup on Sunday cost about $7,000, he said, and it’s not something you can buy in a store. His kites came from an artist in Germany who he now considers a good friend. That’s one of the benefits of the hobby, he said, meeting people from all over the world.

“I have invitations to go pretty much anywhere in the world, just from the kite community,” Corsetti said. “Everyone is doing the same thing I’m doing, trying to put on a good show and have fun. They’re kind people, great people.”

The Windjammers would agree. The slogan on the back of the team’s business card reads “you meet the nicest people at the end of the line.”

The family-oriented event was attendance-by-donation and included a fly-your-own-kite area, a hands-on exotic petting zoo, vendors and several food options.

Classic rock and country performer Juanita and the Big Deal played on Saturday. On Sunday, husband-and-wife team The Brown’s Time Machine were slated to play covers that include classic rock, pop, country and folk, then Wesley Travis and Tyler Hanley played their blend of pop, folk, indie, blues and rock.

For more information, visit www.flyhopeville.ca.