The Coolum Kite festival is a free event that was created by a group of people with like minded passions and interests and in sharing their vision with the community, the birthing of a magnificent and colourful kaleidoscope of dancing kites over Coolum Beach became a reality in 2000.
A warm and colourful welcome to the new century the first festival in spring of that year was instantaneously popular and successful attracting around 12,000 people, making the future of the Kite Festival assured for successive years as this inaugural event brought the pretty seaside town of Coolum to prominence not only for the coasts tourism but also for kite flying enthusiasts. Since then there have been eight festivals all showcasing stunning kites from overseas, around Australia and locally.
Successive years saw the Kite Festival with crowds of up to 60,000 people as daytime activities over the two days abound with something happening every 15 - 30 minutes such as sculpturing beach art, roving entertainment, face painting, free activities for children, kite workshops and one year a large red illuminated boat floated down Stumers Creek.
But the prime event is the hundreds of kites festooning the skies over Coolum Beach in an explosion of colour and shapes and as they take flight crabs, lizards, dogs, triangles, tails, birds, octopus and many more noisily whiz pass spectators all in a throng of activity. Saturday night can tantalise the visitor with many activities including a twilight lantern parade, night flying kites on the beach and lastly capping the night off with fireworks. The festival also has a wonderful opening and closing ceremony full of grandeur and original creativity.
The Kite Festival has the backing of the Queensland Government with grants, while the local community and school children help bring the kite displays to life for the throng of people. The festival over many years has had exhibits of character and theme kites plus rokakku kite fighting, mig jet aerial displays, kite surfers flying high on the waves of Coolum Beach, pyrotechnique skydiving with parachute and airplane fly-bys which attract all eyes gazing skyward. Nearby Stumers Creek becomes packed with people taking up their vantage spot enjoying not only the kites but also the musical festivities.
Also at the festival are many stalls including markets stalls, numerous food and drink stalls with delicious and sumptuous snacks, smoothies, coffees and ice-creams and a variety of other cultural foods or simply bring your own picnic basket. There are stalls for selling kites such as fighter kites, delta kites, rotor kites and tetrahedral kites to name just a few. There is an art workshop and stall for keeping children entertained, enthralling dancers, kids comedy and competitions, the RAAF Roulettes performing aerobatic displays to name just a sample of what goes on at the festival. There are many superb kite flyers from around the world who captivate the crowd with their spectacular kites performing their dancing gyrations in an outdoor atmosphere of excitement, sun, surf and beach.
Kite masters from other countries such as China and Taiwan have endowed the festival with their artistic expertise in kite making in workshops they present prior to the festival and some of their creations being made here have been gifted to the festival organisers. This truly is a magical weekend with fun and jollity for the whole family whether just enjoying all the entertainment and excitement as a spectator or more hands on as an amateur or professional performer.