The Harden Kite Festival is returning to town this Saturday 8 October, after a two-year hiatus following the Covid pandemic.
The 2022 edition of the Kite Festival will take place at the Harden Racecourse on the Burley Griffin Way between 10am and 4pm, an event that is sure to get locals and travelling visitors excited.
This year’s theme for the festival is ‘Kites, Carnival, Kraft’ and will feature big kites from kite flying enthusiasts around Australia.
Professional kite flyers such as Bob Moore, Ian Burrell, Karen Gerg, Michael Richar
ds, Mike Jenkins, Roger Martin, Tony Walker and the Tibbey Family will also be in attendance.
The Harden Kite Festival, conducted during October each year is a major community event, which is organised by a local volunteer committee with the support of the community.
The event offers many fun and free activities for children and is funded by company sponsorship and attendee donations.
The alcohol-free, family friendly event will host a range of free activities and entertainment for both young and old to enjoy.
The list of activities and attractions includes Kite flying, Live Music & Entertainment, Kids Activities, Food Stalls, Market Stalls, Kite Decorating workshops and Rides.
All day rides passes are available for $15, or $5 each for single rides. Lucy Targett, Chairperson of the Harden Kite Festival Committee, is looking forward to getting the festival back on in 2022 after countless interruptions.
“Our four major sponsors are the NSW Government, Graymont, Hilltops Council, and Coppabella Wind Farm.
Destination NSW have also provided some Covid supplementary assistance which makes sure we’re providing hand sanitizer stations, masks, and just signage around to help people stay safe and keep their distance where possible,” Lucy said.
“We already have 7
00 people who have got tickets. We’re expecting around a 2000–3000-person event which is our goal.
“Back in 2019, we had over 4000, and in 2018 we had over 8000 people which is one of the biggest events we’ve ever had in our town.
This year we’ve got a traffic control committee onboard which will help manage our event for us.”
Lucy and the Harden Kite Festival had recently released the exciting program for the day, which has something to interest everyone.
“We’ve just released our hour-by-hour program which is on our website. We’ve got circus shows and classes, West African drumming, a local dance group Dance with Mis
s Em, kite talks and tributes, and Harry Cleverdon who’s coming from Canberra and is a singer/songwriter, as well as the Young Town Band performing in the afternoon,” Lucy continued.
“The schedule starts from 10am but sometimes people are raring to go by 9:30am so we’ll be ready to go by then.
“We’ve got a great selection of over 30 market stalls who are selling home goods and handmade crafts and up to 15 food vendors coming onsite, including chips on a stick, slushies, coffee, ice cream, burgers, and bakery items.
“I encourage people to bring their own picnic too, it’s an all-day event for families to enjoy.
People can go kite flying then come back and watch a performance on stage and go look at some stalls and the kid’s activity alley and get a free kite or some face painting done.
“We’ve got massive marquees that will provide shelter from the sun or rain.
Any light rain won’t hinder us, and we’ll do our best if it gets any heavier. At this stage, we are full steam ahead.”
The Harden Kite Festival is also hosting a private kite flyers dinner the night before the event to welcome the professional kite flyers to town.
Tickets for the event can be confirmed by visiting hardenkitefestival.org
“We’re doing $2 per person at the gate because it’s one of the most affordable events in the whole region.
Donations are more than accepted because we are fully volunteered based. It’s for everyone to enjoy the event.”
The Twin Town Times are proud to sponsor the Harden Kite Festival.
Tim Warren
