A couple of years ago, Lisa and I rode our bikes down to the north end of South Padre Island for their annual kite fest held out near the Laguna Madre bay. This year we attended our first indoor kite flying festival at the island’s convention center. Yes, you read that right — indoor. Indoor kite flying, for both performance and competition, is apparently a pretty big deal in parts of Canada and the US.

Instead of wind, the kite flyers move around a large open floor to keep their kite’s aloft. The kites are flown very artistically and choreographed to music. This particular show’s theme was “a tribute to the big screen” with songs featured from various movies. There were many different styles and sizes of kites flown with various numbers of strings. My favorite being small kites made of very lightweight plastic flown with a single, thread-like string. I was amazed that the performers were able to keep the strings from getting tangled.

The night opened with national anthems from both Canada and the US. The gentleman below flew a red, white, and blue eagle-shaped kite for the Star Spangled Banner.

Apart from the finale, the flying was done either solo or in pairs. Here’s a picture of a couple — John Barresi & Meshelle Sharples — that flew fairly large kites.

The video of James Fletcher below highlights the artistry that can be accomplished with the lightest of kites.

The flyer in the video below, Connor Doran, performed 13 years ago on America’s Got Talent. On this night he flew solo as well as with his mom. Here is a bit from his solo performance with a double kite.

And finally, here’s a brief clip of the finale to give a flavor of all the different types of kites that were flown.