The club was unofficially started about 4 or 5 years ago by our current chairman Rick Longhurst.
I joined the group a little over a year ago. Since that time we decided to have a charity fly for the “Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southwestern Ontario“. On January 1st, 2003 we made it official and became a dues paying club. We now have a total of 28 members. The officers are:
- Chairman – Rick Longhurst
- Sec/treasurer – Doug Rounding
- Newsletter editor – Larry Green
On May 10th, 2003 we held our charity fly which, despite the very bad weather conditions, was a success. We had a total of 17 flyers register and our star performers were the Windjammers from Detroit, Michigan, who flew their 13-kite stacks to the wonderment of all present.
We raised a total of $874.15 for our charity thanks to our corporate sponsors, local businesses and the registration fees.
Since then we have had our “Farm Fly“, which was a 2 day event and drew a total of 29 flyers from Michigan, Ohio, and Southwestern Ontario… We have also participated in the AKA National Kite Month event and the One Sky, One World for Peace Fly.
In September of this year we became an officially recognized club by the American Kitefliers Association. We were the first club to be recognized under the new rules for International Clubs.
We are now in the planning stages for our 2nd Make-A-Wish fly which will be called “The Andrew Baxter Memorial Fly “ in recognition of an 18 year old who died suddenly the day before our last “ Make-A-Wish “ fly and who was a firm believer in this foundation.
Well that pretty well covers the club’s
short history – thanks for reading,
Doug Rounding
Secretary/Treasurer
Essex Kite Flyers
We also encourage you to visit the Essex Kite Flyers home page
for more info about their charity events and tons of pictures!