From: Sancho Subject: Bluebonnet Kite Festival 1996 (Article) Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 20:23:20 -1000 Organization: South West Sport Kite League and Fiesta Kite Ideas Message-ID: <317DC8D8.65A2@ix.netcom.com> The third annual Bluebonnet Kite Festival hosted by the Bluebonnet Lions Cl= ub in San = Marcos, TX was chaired by Judy Aswell. The event was moved to a later date= in April for = this year so as not to conflict with other activities in San Marcos. In th= e prior = years, it seemed nothing they did could prevent the little league baseball = >From = conflicting with the date of the kite festival. The field is set just north of San Marcos right off the main highway I35, w= hich has = prime traffic during the weekend going between San Antonio and Austin. In = the past this = festival has been blessed with good weather. Not only is it on one of the = prime = locations in Texas but good weather to boot. This year was no exception, b= ut we did = have a bit of a scare. Abel Ortega Head Judge and Director delayed Saturdays events for about 30 m= inutes = because of lightening. During that time there were ominous gray clouds hea= vy with rain. = A police officer from San Marcos stopped by to warn us of the pending thund= er storm with = possible golf ball sized hail. For safety reasons I made an announcement t= o bring in = all the kites. Now I know this is a bit unreal but I have done this before= =2E I called to the crowd of spectators which had gathered for the early part o= f Saturdays = kite events. And asked if they would help me ward away. In spirit if we lo= ok towards = the sky we can together, ward away the bad weather. As the day worn on the= clouds seem = to go away, but once again they threatened and once again I asked for every= one=92s = cooperation to help ward away the bad weather and once again it worked. By= early = afternoon the clouds had all but burned off and the sun broke through. Later that same police man came by and said he had been watching the Dopple= r radar = closely and was amazed at what he saw. He said that a big mass of thunders= torms came = right up to the county line and split and went North and South completely m= issing San = Marcos. = Saturday night the temps stayed in the mid to low 70=92s with winds constan= t out of the = North at about 8 to 10 mph. The PA system was left out on the field so the= kiters and = competitors took advantage of a night fly and party. = Sunday was perfection. With Southeast winds all day at 12 mph sometimes gu= sting to = about 15 maybe 20 mph and temps up into the 90=92s. This event is a class act the organization is first class and the managemen= t is as = professional as you will ever see at any festival. Every year this event g= rows bigger = and better and is considered by all who have attended, the premiere event i= n Texas. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =