Email sent 5/19/23 CANCELLED festival "due to heavy rain forecast."

The Franklin Park Kite & Bike Festival has been a community tradition since 1969. Every May, residents come together for kite flying, bike riding, and music. This year, Countdown to Kindergarten will have bike and trike activities. The Children's Hospital will give away FREE helmets. REI will host a bike repair station. There will be food trucks, music, craft vendors, the Boston Water Truck, and even a fire engine.

If you’re a novice flyer (like me), I have some kite tips below that may help you prepare for this year’s festival.

Kite Assembly

Get a kite that is easy to assemble, especially if you are not a frequent flyer or if you’re not the best at following directions. I assembled mine upside down, meaning, the beautiful image was facing underneath the kite instead of the correct way. Assembling a kite requires applying tension to poles and putting thin string in tiny places, which was a bit of a challenge for me.

DIY Kite

Flying Master is a YouTube channel with some pretty cool kites -- that actually fly! Most of the tutorials are under 3 minutes. There are simple kites like paper kites, a garbage bag kite, a cardboard kite, a napkin kite and even a kite made out of foil.

He’s also made kid-friendly designed kites like a lady-bug kite and the one below -- a car kite.

Dollar Store Kites

Dollar stores have a nice variety of generic kites as well as famous cartoon kites (like Barbie, LOL or My Little Pony). While they sell for $1.25, they may be made from a cheaper material, so they may get tangled more easily or even rip. If you want to test it out, maybe buy a cheap kite and compare it to a kite you make and/or a more durable kite you buy. 

Since kite flying is a seasonal sport in Boston, try calling your local dollar store before you go, to make sure they have kites in stock.

Vendor Kites

When we attended the festival there were vendors there selling the kites for around $18 for 3 (it may cost more now). They too had character kites like (Spiderman, the Avengers or Minecraft). The later in the day you go, the less of a selection there may be.

Online Kites

Amazon has a nice variety of kites for children and beginners. Amazon kites are conveniently delivered to your door and a lot of the sellers (like this one) have video tutorials on how to put them together. If you're more of an advanced flyer, Amazon also has larger 3D kites for kids and adults that look pretty fun to fly.

Safe Distance

Our girls loved running and flying close together — which meant their kites would get tangled. Untangling the kite string takes a lot of time and patience, so I’d recommend reminding them to stay a good distance apart. The Franklin Park Kite and Bike Festival isn't too crowded, plus there's tons of flat field, so this shouldn't be too hard.

Even if your children do their best, other kids may fly too close. So another way to minimize entanglements is to keep the kite string very short. Long enough for the kite to get up in the air, but short so that it’s not too far away. The further the kite is from your little one, the more opportunities it creates for others to cross flying paths leading to more tangles. The shorter the string, the quicker the kite gets to lift off.

You’ll also want to keep a safe distance, so that they have plenty of space for run way. This helps with the kite’s lift off (getting into the air). Since your little one may be amazed by the flying object, they may look up instead of in front of them and can collide with another flyer. A healthy distance may help minimize accidents like this.

Wind Tips

Kid kites are usually made with a light material so they tyically only need a light breeze (4-7 mph) to get going. Your weather app can tell you the wind speed and direction for the day. Putting your back to the wind will help launch the kite in the air.

What To Pack

You'll probably want to pack some water and snacks. Sunglasses, a hat or visor can help your little one better see their kite in the sky, and not be blinded by the sun.

Happy Flying!