The Kite Festival in Weifang, China or Pasir Gudang, Malaysia is an ancient and prestigious event with hundreds of thousands of guests. And how do residents and guests of the Ukrainian town of Skadovsk feel about a similar event?
This town was founded by the landowner Sergiy Skadovskiy on the shore of Dzharylgach Bay, one of the shallowest parts of the Black Sea. Due to the shallow depth and accordingly good warming of the sea water, this resort is considered a «children’s» resort. That is, caring parents willingly bring their offspring here for vacation. For many years Skadovsk has been organizing sports camps and training camps for pupils of Children’s and Youth Sports School.
In addition to specializing in children’s health improvement and sports recreation, at the beginning of this century the town of Skadovsk «grabbed» another branch of specialization. In 2002 here began to hold Festival of kites, which quickly grew into an annual, prestigious and colorful action of international scale.
The parade of colorful kites in Skadovsk is held in early August. It is called «Colorful Sky». The founding father of the holiday and the first kite-tamer of Skadovsk was a certain Vladimir Emelyanov, a failed pilot, a former teacher of labor and the head of the aerospace group «Galaxy» in the Center for Children and Youth Creativity.
Having earned international acclaim by creating a model of a planet ship, Mr. Emelyanov switched to making kites. They were flat and box-shaped, controlled by «drones» and those that are guided by a ley, but controlled only by the wind. The Skadov kite maker’s specialty among the masters of his genre is the predominance of bird shapes in his products.
Having no means to go to such festivals in China or Malaysia, Mr. Yemelyanov decided to organize a holiday in his native Skadovsk, which was willingly attended by all the famous kite flyers of Ukraine, Europe and Asia. At the last festival, in addition to 12 Ukrainian teams and a dozen of distinguished foreign guests, even Johann van Eeckhout, a member of the International Kite Society, came as a judge.
Why did this festival take root in Skadovsk? Because here, on the border of Kherson steppe and water masses of Jarylgacha Bay, air currents favorable for kite flying are formed. How do the locals treat the festival? Extremely positive. Thanks to it, not only Ukrainians, but also guests from abroad come to vacation to Skadovsk, spreading the fame around the world about the best children’s resort in the country. Those who visit the Black Sea coast in early August are guaranteed a luxurious air show with master classes from the world’s best kite flyers!