By Scott D. Johnston

An early summer tradition in Ocean Shores has moved up the beach about a mile, but still promises to live up to its name as the Festival of Colors. The annual spectacle of hundreds of kites of all kinds filling the sky officially takes places Saturday and Sunday just north of the Damon Road beach approach outside the city limits.

The event has become a beloved gathering of Pacific Northwest kite-flying enthusiasts and offers a wide variety of activities, from organized competitions with sport and stunt kites to kid-friendly kite-making, plus the event’s signature display of dozens of huge “show kites.”

Sponsored by Ocean Shores Kites, the festival is essentially “a thank-you to our fliers and the community,” said Andy Sias, who owns the two Ocean Shores Kites stores along with his wife, Brenda. It’s about “the spirit of enjoying the wind and enjoying that we’re all together on this same little round ball of people… when we’re holding onto that string, we’re connected to every other human on earth. It’s a very special thing for people to enjoy the beach and immerse themselves in the crazy kite world.”

Sias explained that on Saturday morning, depending on the weather, “fliers meet at the kite store around 7 a.m. and either rush to, or lazily reach, the beach. If it’s cloudy and wet, people aren’t in a hurry, and usually hang around the store for an extra doughnut.” Fliers are typically on the beach getting kites in the air by 8 to 9 a.m. He said people can expect to see kites from Damon Road to near the Quinault Beach Resort and Casino.

The multi-line sport kite competitions run approximately 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and involve multiple categories, including novice, intermediate and masters, precision, ballet (usually multiple fliers), trick flying, individual, pairs and team competitions.

A favorite family activity is free kids kite making, which runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Over 100 kids made kites last year. The event hosts a dinner Saturday evening at 6 p.m. at the Ocean Shores Elementary School. Tickets are $10. Sias said the dinner includes, awards, thank-yous, bag raffles, a brief live auction, kite pin trading, and indoor kite flying demonstrations and competitions in the gym.

Kites are back up in the sky Sunday, with competition on the beach usually wrapping up by 2 p.m. Sias noted that anyone can compete. “It’s a freebie — there’s no cost at all to walk up, sign up, and fly your sport kite in a competition.

New this year will be paid lessons in operating a kite buggy, which is now legal on designated stretches of beach on the North Coast. Sias said Dodd Gross is coming from Pennsylvania to give kite buggy lessons Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Those interested can sign up through the main Ocean Shores Kites store at 172 W. Chance A La Mer. The event is funded by the Sias family, and costs them several thousand dollars each year. By design, it does not offer any vending and is free except for the dinner. Sias explained that he and Brenda do not want to bring in out-of-town vendors who would compete with local businesses.

“We don’t want a big, messy, noisy zoo with elephant ears and garbage blowing down the beach,” he explained. “We’re about kites.”

More information is available online at www.oceanshorekites.com and on the Ocean Shores Kites Facebook page.