Attack of the Flying Squid (or) The Berkeley Kite Festival

Flying squid are attacking Berkeley, California. You heard it here first, folks. FLYING. SQUID. This is definitely not fake news.

As long as you take into account the fact that the squid are actually squid-shaped kites, and the only thing they attacked was the grass they landed on. So. Yeah. No attacking squid. But “peaceful squid-shaped kites” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

I spotted these surreal kites at the Berkeley Kite Festival, which I attended last weekend. Since I live a short drive away from Berkeley, I thought I’d check it out.

If you’ll forgive the pun, I was blown away.

The entire festival surpassed my expectations. There must have been hundreds of kites in the air at any given time, from gigantic nylon sea-creatures to simple paper kites made by children at an activity booth. A few of my favorites were a beluga whale kite twice the size of my car, a pair of two kites shaped like witches on broomsticks, and a fascinating kite made in an ancient Japanese kite-making style that appeared to be made solely of bamboo and paper — but managed to go higher than any other kite I saw.

But the most technically advanced kite at the festival was a large green dragon, which kept swooping back and forth at the edge of the bay in a distinctly threatening and lifelike manner. Think of the dragon in Sleeping Beauty come to life. Apparently there are only twelve of these dragon kites in the world, three of which are in the continental United States. I feel lucky to have seen one in person.

Speaking of the movement of the dragon, though, what struck me most about the large kites was the way they moved in the air. I’m used to the jerky movements of small kites, since that’s the species of kite most commonly found in parks, on beaches, and in my case, at the bottom of a closet in my grandmother’s house and enthusiastically played with in the backyard when I was seven or eight years old.

But imagine for a moment, if you will, majestic kites which fly in the air in the same manner that an octopus swims through the water. (Octopi are like underwater ballerinas. If you don’t believe me, I invite you to watch some octopus videos on YouTube. I promise, it will make your day better.) They move slowly, with intention and grace. Spending an afternoon underneath these kites made me feel like I’d stepped into an alternate science-fiction world where humans coexisted with alien air-swimming animals. The giant squid, in particular, gave off the feeling that they could gain control over their own limbs and swim lazily away if only they were released from their kite strings.

In addition to the obvious attraction of the huge kites, the kite festival also had other exhibitions, such choreographed kite routines, where one kite would dance to a song, or where multiple kites would fly in tandem. At multiple points I heard the announcer refer to whimsical events like “kite ballet,” and other fascinating things that I’d never considered a kite doing. The entire festival, in addition to being visually stunning, was also a crash course in the serious kite-flying world. There was even the option of learning how to fly different kinds of kites, such as trick kites or kites with multiple strings, or competing in various kite competitions.

In terms of booths at the festival, there was a wide variety. There were booths where you could buy kites, of course, but there were also booths for clothing, food, giveaways for weekends in Disneyland and Hawaii, jewelry, natural cosmetics, and so on. A few booths gave away free samples or promotional goodies, which was fun. The festival was also particularly child-friendly, with multiple large blow-up obstacle courses, a petting zoo, and a live pony merry-go-round, among other attractions.

On the topic of money, the festival is free to enter, but parking for the day was $15 if you wanted to park near the festival site. And if you’re trying to save money, I would suggest bringing your own lunch. Most of the food offered by the booths was on the pricier side. But if you don’t mind spending some money, you’ll have your choice between empanadas, Indian food, artisanal corndogs (I know, I didn’t know those existed either), Mexican food, and the standard fare of hot dogs and funnel cakes.

Overall, the Berkeley Kite Festival was a great way to spend an afternoon. And the way those squid kites moved in such a strikingly lifelike way is going to stay with me for a while, I know. Maybe they’ll even turn up in a story at some point… though whether or not those fictional flying squid will attack people remains to be seen.

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Curious about the photos? I took them on my iPhone 7, and since they are my own work, all the usual copyright rigamarole applies.
Also, a quick announcement! Thanks to the generosity of vcelier, I will be attending SteemFest2 this November! I look forward to meeting my fellow Steemians and talking about giant squid kites (and other, more normal things) in person in the near future.