GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - Take 60km of kite string that would stretch from the Eden Kite Festival venue at Eden Lawns in Sedgefield to the Beacon Island hotel in Plettenberg Bay, add 650sq m of cloth weighing 65kg that would cover Centre Court at Wimbledon almost five times, and add 2km of fibreglass rods only 2mm thick weigh 13kg.
Now cut and sew the cloth into 2 000 kite skins and add two rods per kite…
That’s what has gone into producing the kites for the Sotheby’s Africa record attempt at the third Eden Kite Festival.
It took three people 22 days of full-time work. Screen printing the 2 000 kites took two people 20 days.
Winding the line onto 2 000 handles, hand-cut from Correx board, took 4 people 16 days of full-time work.
Our goal is to get as many of those 2 000 kites into the air simultaneously. For that we need 2 000 kite flyers – that means you!
The kites are for sale at significantly reduced prices at the festival as well as beforehand at Sotheby’s offices, Knysna Tourism in Knsyna and Sedgefield, and at the Scarab, Wild Oats and The Heath (Harkerville) markets.
Those places are also where you can buy your entrance tickets for the festival on 22 October as well as for the Wendy Oldfield and Leroy Botha opening concert at the Octopus Garden at Scarab market on 21 October.
Knysna mayor Eleanore Bouw-Spies will open both events and you can also meet the professional kiters from South Africa, Poland, England and the Netherlands.
Tickets for the festival are R20 for adults and R10 for under-12s, and the kites – worth R95 – are R35. Payments can be made by EFT or Zapper before the event, and with those as well as cash at the gate.
The advantage of buying your entry tickets beforehand is that you get to use the express entry at the festival and miss the queue to get in.
Tickets for the Wendy Oldfield (almost sold-out) concert are R100 each.
The third Eden Kite Festival is sponsored by Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty of Knysna, Sedgefield, Mossel Bay and Stilbaai, and is in aid of Masithandane’s bursary fund, which keeps children in school by providing transport and essentials such as feminine hygiene products and stationery.
There is no high school in Sedgefield and no public transport is available to get learners to the nearest schools.
Read a previous article: Are you ready to fly?
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