The World on a String

SIMI VALLEY —  Ben Franklin got a jolt out of one. Alexander Graham Bell launched a few in his day, too. And Mary Poppins wasn’t above flying a kite up in the highest heights.

So it’s no wonder that hundreds would converge on a windy ridge at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Sunday to let their spirits, and handiwork, soar over the canyons around Simi Valley.

So great was the turnout--300 free kites were distributed before opening ceremonies began--that organizers of the first Ben Franklin Kite Classic made a mental note to have more handouts available next year.

Yes, this high-flying hobby is probably coming back, said Carrie Glicksteen, executive director of the Ventura County Discovery Center, which organized the event.

But the short supply wasn’t a problem, because many people brought their own kites. Children built kites from sticks and paper and colored them with crayons. Everyone else spread blankets in the shade--front-row seating for an aerial display both chaotic and graceful.

If you haven’t been kite flying in a while, things have changed. Those balsa-and-paper kits you bought at the drugstore are still around, but they are clunkers.

Kites of the ‘90s are high-tech affairs, made of woven carbon fibers, supported by struts light as feathers and strong as arrow shafts, and towed by high tensile strength monofilament.

There were flights of fancy and of the ordinary. The highest flier went to a condor-size delta-shaped kite trailed by a writhing rainbow tail that looked like a tropical snake. A purple-and-gold box kite at times resembled a swarm of UFOs. Some kites had propellers. One looked like a Canada goose. Another was an 8-foot chartreuse frog. A Winnie-the-Pooh kite got airborne. One tiny kite darted in and out among the others like a green mosquito.

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Mostly there was lots and lots of string. Kites adorned trees. Kites tangled with other kites. If fallen string didn’t ensnare your legs, a dive-bombing canopy kite could clip you.

The best kite, however, might have belonged to 7-year-old Kara Jacobs of Simi Valley, who came with her brother James and friend, Kaycee. On the back of her kite, in big red crayon, was a heart that said “I love you.” It was for her dad.

“I wrote it on the back because I didn’t want anybody to see it,” Kara said, embarrassed.

Gregory Botman, 7, said he loves the desert. The snakes, the lizards. So he colored a saguaro cactus, a sunset and a hawk on his kite. Gazing skyward, he sat mesmerized by flight.

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“I like kites because they go high up in the sky,” Gregory said. Not as high as airplanes he’s flown in, which gave him “the creeps,” but more relaxing. “Kite flying is safer,” he said.

Kids brought the kites. But often parents flew them. Mostly the dads.

Sherry Mendoza of Simi Valley relaxed in the shade with a bowl of fruit, while her daughter, kite owner Samantha, lay nearby, waiting her turn at the string. Dad Sammy had the diamond-shaped kite way up there, and he was going to be piloting for a while.

“That’s what’s so great about this,” Sherry Mendoza said, laughing. “This is where they get to act like kids. Where else can they do this?”

The event was to show families that science and fun go hand in hand. A science center featured a miniature rocket motor test, a boomerang display and a wind tunnel.

Eleven experimental aircraft buzzed the library in a succession of high-speed passes, “kind of like a fashion show, but with planes,” remarked one girl in the crowd.

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A 14-year-old movie and TV star, Camarillo’s Tina Majorino from the recent NBC special “Alice in Wonderland,” flew kites, too.

Sponsors of the event include Boeing Co., Lite 92.7-FM and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.