Field Trip on March 29th to the Smithsonian Kite Festival
On Saturday the 29th, we'll venture downtown to the National Mall grounds for the 42nd annual Smithsonian Kite festival.
This year, colorful, traditional Chinese kites will fly over the Washington Monument grounds, and they are challenging participants to create their own Chinese-inspired kites for the annual kitemaking competition. Special elements of this year's festival include demonstration booths, displays of Chinese kite art, and a tremendous special opening ceremony (10:00 a.m.). The always popular traditional Rokkaku kite battle will be held at the end of the day. They are also excited to offer the fourth annual Smithsonian Hot Tricks competition. Kite flyers strut their stuff on the field while dazzling the crowd with trick kite moves. Let's hope for bright clear skies and a brisk breeze!
Let's plan to meet near/at the top of the ramp of the Smithsonian Metro stop (orange/blue line) at 11:00 a.m I'd recommend taking the Metro downtown, because parking on/near the Mall may be crowded and a hassle, and the Metro is very convenient and safe. Regardless of your mode of transport, the Metro stop is a good meeting place.
The event officially starts @ 10:00 a.m. I have no idea when kites will be flying; this may be weather-dependent. The official flying area is the Monument grounds, so we'll walk the short distance (1/2 mile?) to the center-of-action. My guess is that there will be a greater than usual number of food vendors at/near the Mall for this event for munchies.
Pray for Rain!! That way, with Mother Nature's perverse sense-of-humor, then contrarily, it will NOT rain!!
Don Andberg, Field Trips Co-captain