Rainbow Beach Lion’s Club Annual Kite festival hits the skies
The day after the kite festival, organiser Debbie Donovan was still smiling, “As the Lions Club, we pulled it off – our aim was to give Rainbow Beach a free non-alcohol family event, and to show off the best of what Rainbow has to offer – our beautiful beach.”
“The winds were slow in picking up, making us all wait until 11.20am until the wind turned and the kites flew high above Rainbow. I actually saw them from the corner of Double Island Drive – they were on 80 foot high wires. Up to 30 foot wide!”
She describes it as highly successful, “The marketers were happy, kids had a blast on the jumping castle and the Lions sausage sizzle kept everyone fed.”
“Kids coloured in their own kites from the Lion’s tent – they had a great time..even the littlest joined in.”
Many took advantage of the mild weather to enjoy a winter dip in the ocean. “There were thousands around that day – there were 3 weddings plus The Ekka long weekend, car parks were full.”
“Thank you Rainbow Beach Community News, Zinc Radio Station 96.1 FM, Rainbow Beach Surf Club, SES, Gympie Times, National Parks, Gympie Regional Council, Tin Can Bay Lioness Club, Rainbow Beach Horseriding and TCB Signs for helping us get the word out and about through the region.”
“I would like to give a huge thank you to all our local volunteers and those who came as far away as the Gold Coast and to the young volunteers from Victory College who gave up their weekend to help the Queensland Kite Flying Society.”
Debbie said the Kite Flyers were wonderful. They let other people bring down their kites to fly and were happy to give information on kite purchases and repairs. Spectators chatted with them all day, delighted with the event.
“The Kite Flying Society said they are coming back next year with even more kites – it’s going to be bigger and better. Plans are already underway for August next year – it’s a great time because it is normally quiet for Rainbow.”
“Visitors come, they have a good time and they come back.”
Debbie was very grateful to the sponsors: Plantation resort, Skydive Rainbow Beach, Cooloola Wholesalers, Rainbow Beach Ocean Palm resort, Rainbow Beach Cleaning and Handyman service, Dean’s Iceworks, Wolf Rock Dive Centre, Shell Servo, Ed’s Bakery, Shell Tourist Centre, Rainbow Beach Recovery, Chilly Bin, Rainbow Beach Tourist Centre/7th Wave Surf Shop, Rainbow Beach Meats, Café Jilarty, Foodworks, IGA, Bicthy Chix, Rainbow Beach Realty, Rainbow Beach Camping and Tackle, BP Servo, Post Office, 13th Beach, Rainbow Beach Massage.
Image captions: (Thank you to Kerry Leyland and Wolf Rock Dive for your images)
- Kye Feeney flies his kite amongst huge dogs, fish and flowers (photo by Kerry Leyland)
- The dragon was a favourite (photo by Kerry Leyland)
- Dogs, octopus, dragons, fish, flowers and more adorned the skies August 18 (photo by Kerry Leyland)
- The dice was rolling for Gympie’s Dayne and Kayleb Cottee
- Tara-Anne Liebetanz said Samuel had never seen a kite – he couldn’t keep his eyes off these giants in the sky
- Rainbow Beach Lions Debbie Donovan (back row, centre) and Georgina McKay (front row , left) with helpers from Tin Can Bay Lionesses Pam Bauer, Jill Falzon, Brenda Mitchell and Robyn Breen
- Colourful kites looked great against the perfect blue skies (photo by Kerry Leyland)
- Markets received plenty of trade on the day, overlooking the kite action
