The Martha’s Vineyard Wind Festival kicked off its sixth annual celebration in Oak Bluffs on Saturday September 10. People congregated on Ocean Park and filled the skies with kites of all kinds, including a 30-foot whale and parrot, a jelly fish, and various handmade paper kites. Children ages 12 and under started off their morning hand-crafting kites, which were then launched into a flying competition. Jen Cleary took first place in the children’s competition for longest flying kite and walked home with a stuffed lobster and a medal.
The Wind Festival has been gathering crowds in early September regularly since 2011, but kite flying is nothing new in Oak Bluffs. In the Sixties, a large group of people used to gather at Ocean Park every year and fly their kites. “It was a lot more spontaneous back then,” Holly Alaimo, the festival organizer, said. Spontaneous or not, the day was enjoyed by all who came out and put their kites to the wind.