Portsmouth kite festival celebrates soaring success following 2020's cancellation due to Covid-19

Thousands were blown away by the displays, ranging from giant a Superman model to dazzling synchronized shows, as the Portsmouth International Kite Festival ran across Saturday and Sunday in Southsea Common.

It was a triumphant return for the festival which was once again soaring after Covid-19 restrictions meant that last year’s event never got off the ground, and strong winds meant the festival could only go ahead for one day in 2019.

But this year’s show wasn’t a breeze to put on, according to Roxy Elliott, an events officer from Portsmouth City Council, who said that the weather restricted the number of kites and traders on Sunday.

She said: ‘It needs to be strong winds of just under 23 miles per hour. Above that, the winds are too strong.

‘Due to the weather, we weren’t able to have traders this weekend. We had an area for charities and arts and crafts stalls, and we had to cancel a children’s workshop.

‘The bar was cancelled as staff were pinged.

‘But overall it’s gone really well.’

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Jon Bloom, co-president of the Kite Society of Great Britain, was not feeling under the weather, enjoying the return of an event he has been part of for more than 20 years.

The kite-enthusiast said: ‘It’s brilliant – really nice to see the kites up in the sky.

‘We have obviously been stifled by the travel restrictions. But we have got some quite unusual kites from up north – we have some tigers and a clown we haven’t seen before.

‘We don’t have as many international kite flyers as usual, but we got the numbers we expected.’

Hoping to pull some strings with international groups for next year’s show, he added: ‘We hope to put on a bigger and better show next year for our 30th festival.’

In previous years, the festival has enjoyed kite displays from Holland, Germany, Italy, India, Dubai, and the USA .

Irma Adriaanse, from Southampton, came with display team Flying Fish and said this year’s showing was ‘fantastic’ given the hardships of the last 18 months.

She said: ‘It’s fantastic to be back.’

Bedford resident Daniel Hoath, a member of Team Fracture who has been coming to the festival for more than a decade, said: ‘Portsmouth never disappoints, come rain or shine.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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