Midnight Squadron » Events

Blossom Kite Festival Video

chrooke — Sat, 07 May 2011 02:17:50 +0000

Thanks to Skyamese running a Flip video recorder, and Mike VanMeers’ kindness in letting us capture the final score sheet, we have been able to put together an almost complete video of the First Annual Blossom Kite Festival Rokkaku Challenge, complete with official scores after each heat. We’re missing only the end of the second heat, when a Junior Squadroneer went on the lam and Skyamese had to give chase.

First Annual Blossom Kite Festival Rokkaku Challenge (150MB MP4)

Blossom Kite Fest News

Complex — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 00:43:15 +0000

Here’s the quick wrap-up on the National Cherry Blossom Kite Festival.

The day started out chilly, and the wind was near dead. However, the sun came out and the wind blew well by the end of the day. Chrooke, Skyamese, Lady Vader, the Tattooed Lady, Kalika, Complex, Bryan, and Nancy all attended.

Chrooke entered his logo rok in the kite-making competition, and got compliments on how well it flew.

Complex and Chrooke flew in the rokkaku battle, with Kalika catching and Bryan judging. The first heat was disastrous, but we got a couple points back in the second heat. Finally, Chrooke piloted an amazing third heat that took the team from nothing to third place.

Complex’s Photo Slideshow:

Blossom Kite Festival Rescheduled: 4/10

chrooke — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 02:19:00 +0000

UPDATE b: We’ll be meeting up at the Blossom Kite Festival’s registration tent at 12:30. Chrooke will be holding his blue logo kite (on display at right) there as a sign.
Also, you can message Complex during the day by tweeting @midnightsquad, or simply call him if you have his number.

The Blossom Kite Festival was rescheduled for Sunday, April 10th!

The schedule is up, too:

Blossom Kite Festival Schedule
10:00 AM Opening remarks; Registration begins

Demonstration Field
10:15 AM – 12:00 PM Kite Ballets & Demonstrations
12:00 – 1:00 PM Youth Kite Makers Competition
1:00 – 2:00 PM Kite Ballets & Demonstrations

Competition Field
10:15 AM – 1:00 PM Kite Makers Showcase (Hand-made kites only)
1:00 – 2:00 PM Kite Makers Competition
2:00 – 3:00 PM Hot Tricks Showdown
3:00 – 4:00 PM Rokkaku Battle

But keep in mind that they may move events around as weather and politics demand; for example, the Rok battle has been moved to 2pm in the past.

Hope we see you there on April 10th!

The Blossom Kite Festival has been postponed due to expected inclement weather. The organizers expect to announce a new date on Monday.

Squadron Kiting at Blossom – 4/10/11 2pm

Complex — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 20:30:26 +0000

UPDATE 4/9/11: The Blossom Kite Festival is on, as scheduled! Government shutdown averted for now.
Sunday, April 10, 10 am – 4pm, with always-awesome Kitemaking Competition, Indian kite fighting, stunt kite competitions and artistry, and the Rokkaku Challenge at 3pm (show at 2pm).
Read the Blossom Festival announcement or the Blossom Kite Festival schedule.
Please plan and comment on the earlier Squadron post of the Blossom Kite Festival.

The Midnight Squadron will be flying at the Washington Monument on Sunday.

I will be flying at the Washington Monument on Sunday, April 10, from 2pm to 4pm. I intend to fly on the Mall where the Blossom Kite Festival should be, in the corner of Constitution and 17th. We will fight rokkaku.

I will do this regardless of any government closure or shutdown. I state this because the Kite Fly must happen, and it’s not practical to postpone it indefinitely at the last moment. Flying during a government closure won’t stop our participation in the Blossom Kite Festival, when it happens. I will make plan the details and discuss in the comments.

The only things that will keep me off the Mall are official fences, armed guards and lightning.
Let nothing less stand in the way of our flying!

your Scribe and Rokkaku Battlemaster,
Complex

Smithsonian –> Blossom Kite Festival

Complex — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:53:13 +0000

Just a note for anyone searching for info on Washington, DC’s Smithsonian after 2010: as of 2011, this became the Blossom Kite Festival, part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

See more under the “BlossomKiteFestival” tag.

MIKE – Ocean City, MD – 4/29 – 5/1/2011

Complex — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:37:42 +0000

The 17th Maryland International Kite Expo is at the end of April and very start of May – April 29 – May 1.

You can read more detail at the Kite Loft page.

OceanCity.com lists rokkaku fighting as one of the events, which you know got my attention.

Expo features impressive ground & air demonstrations of color & imagination. Activities include sport kite demonstrations, giant kites and lessons in kite making. Events & other competitions such as candy drops & rokkaku battles throughout the weekend. Come enjoy one of the largest kite festivals in the USA. Located on the beach at N. Division St. on 6th St. Hours: Friday through Sunday from 9am – 9pm. For more information, contact Jay Kerr at 410-289-7855 or visit www.kiteloft.com.

Interested in going? Arranging travel & rooming? Discuss in comments!

2010 Smithsonian Kite Festival

Complex — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:00:24 +0000

The Smithsonian Kite Festival is this Saturday, 27 March. It runs from 10 AM to 4 PM The kite-making show & competition starts at 10:15; I expect to see some interesting designs and engineering from Harold Ames and Mike Mosman, among others. Our favorite rokkaku combat is scheduled for 3 PM, but remember that they held it early, at 2 PM, last year.

Please come out and cheer for the Squadron in the Rokkaku Challenge. I think we’ll give you a lot to cheer for — we usually put on an energetic and noisy show, and we’ve been winning a lot. To brag a little, last year, our various teams won at Smithsonian and Wildwood and took second in the AKA Nationals, and I won the individual combat in the Nationals. So I can promise that your enthusiasm will be well placed and rewarded with action.

I’ll continue posting info and follow-ups here, so check back in. You can also find more details about the festival’s schedule, children’s events, and rules at the Smithsonian Kite Festival website.

Read ongoing festival news at our twitter feed, MidnightSquad, which is also shown on the right side of our home page.

2/21 Kite Fly and 2/27 Smithsonian!

Complex — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:09:35 +0000

Interested in flying 2/21? I’m planning on flying Sunday the 21st (1pm) at the Capitol College Field.

A week and a half from now, Saturday the 27th, is Smithsonian! Join us for a good time, a good crowd, great events, and maybe another Rokkaku win!

2009 AKA National Convention Notes

Complex — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:50:07 +0000

A week after the 2009 AKA National Convention in Rochester, MN, Complex is finally posting some of the notes about the convention and things he learned. Some of this is even making its way to the Kite Tips section. Complex writes:

Kite-making workshops: a mini ‘Celtic Shield’ kite and a Korean fighter kite made with a 6th-grade classroom perspective. Great lessons in bamboo, miniature work, the use of art pens, mass production of kite materials for cheap, and how to teach multiple subjects to children using kites.
Kite-making competition: I made a Tyvek delta over one night and dared enter it against some amazing kites. The best part was the sheer bravado of the oral presentation that was All Complex. Now you have no excuse not to make kites — you cannot do worse than I did.
Fighter kites: Did not enter any fighter kite competitions, despite wanting to — conflicted with the kite-making too much. But Carol & Bruce Jarvie invited me to the fighter-kite skills competition — contents that don’t involve line touch fighting. Very interesting.
Did get help balancing my fighter kite from Kenneth, another AKA member, and this Indian-American guy who was simply on the field to play soccer!
Sport/stunt multi-line kites: Didn’t compete at all — I’m really not ready to even make a hash of this yet. But I got to play around with a couple of my rigid two-lines, including the Prism 3D I acquired at the Sunfest auction.
Pin-collecting: I can’t say I’m addicted yet, but somehow I really liked getting the nice pins for showing up at the mass ascensions. Will show these off later — these might make good Squadron propaganda giveaways at festivals.
Rokkaku: The rain & snow held off, and we had great individual & team battles, one after the other. Definitely, definitely show up with separate sets of line for each battle next time.
Banquets & Shmoozing: While I still didn’t hang-out nearly as much as I could have, I pushed my personal sociability limits as much as I could. The banquets are well worth it for the community and shmoozing is worth it for the knowledge. If you’re trying to make or do anything with kites, these are the people to talk to. I spoke to kite makers about sewing and gluing, fighters about technique, KAP salesmen about KAP ideas I’ve had (and which maybe no-one is doing)… more later.
Sleep: Ha ha, not a lot of that.

Also, Gary Engvall is bloody marvelous. The man drove at least an hour & a half out of his way at midnight after the awards banquet just to drop me at the airport, then turned around & went back. Fantastic.

Midnight Squadron Wins Wildwood Team Rokkaku

chrooke — Mon, 25 May 2009 00:50:42 +0000

Complex reports via the Midnight Squadron Twitter feed:

rok battle-lost heat 1 but won rest.Wwoods champs!

Congrats to the Midnight Squadron team for winning team rokkaku at the Wildwood International Kite Festival!Â I’m sure Complex will give us the tip-by-tip when he gets online next.