Don’t ignore the small things — the kite flies because of its tail.
Hawaiian Proverb
Has it been 5 days already? Could this really be the last update I need to write for this 31st AKA Convention and Grand Nationals? They have been a lot of un to write but, somedays it can be a little frustrating as it’s quite impossible to be everywhere things are happening throughout the week. Sometimes I find out about events later that day, sometimes the next day (at which point, its a bit late to make the update) or, in one case,I found out today that the Turkey Shoot fighter kite comp actually happened on Tuesday Oops. But, I do what I can to try and catch as much stuff as i can, so hopefully all of you reading these updates have enjoyed them!
Much like every day here, the events are happening all day long, from workshops back at the Eisenhower in the morning to flying out in the fields in the afternoon. Some of today’s workshops included as “post mortem” judging workshop, led by Steve Ferrel and called “9:00 am – 10:15 am
Judging Handmade Kites: After the Competition”. Will smoot also ran a two part workshop entitled “Talk it up!”, which looked at the fine art of festival announcing. Today being the last day also marks the final days for the Fly Market and Bag Raffle. I’m not sure what Marla will do this evening without being able to cajole people into the raffle, but, I’m willing to bet she’s already planning for next year’s version in Rochester, Minnesota where next year’s Comvention and Grand Nationals will be held.
Saturday is also the “show the public what we do” day, a day of all manner of kites taking to the sky with the locals coming by to check things out. Unfortunately, this didn’t work out as well as it could have as we were dogged by by somewhat spotty weather down on the flying fields all day long. The sun DID try a few times to make some appearances but, in general it was very very low wind and occasional downpour. Ah well, we still managed to get some demos in from various individuals and a few of the teams, including iQuad and Chicago Fire.
Despite the rain, the final Rok battle went on down on Field 2. Nothing stops a rok battle, certainly not low winds and rain! There was a good sized crowd participating however, in the end, Singles was taken by the mighty, yet humble Ronda “Taz” Brewer (on a borrowed kite no less), and pairs comp was Brad Weiner And Thom Shanken, in second, Lisa Willoughby and Dennis Smith were third and first place was taken by the Bandana Gang! Well done, what a bunch of troupers!While the sport kite cometitions had wound down yesterday, they managed to run a hot tricks competition later on the afternoon, with Will Sturdy taking top honours. Congratulations Will!
This year marked the first year of two new competitions, Best Banner and Best Ground Display.There were a large number of entries, some of which I have pictires of below and I’ll include the announcement of the winners later in this writeup once the awards have been handed out, I’m quite literally sitting here in the banquet hall writing the start of this while I grab pictures of the People’s Choice award kites. Lucky me, I get to split for an airport at 3:00AM this morning so, the sooner I can get done the sooner I can tell the boss “we’re good, buh bye!”
And finally, here we are, at the final awards dinner!
Liveblogging from dinner for a change of pace :
I’ll skip through much of the speeches, and go straight to the awards as they are announced, however, Chicago Fire has just awarded their broken rod of the year count, and this year, a rousing course of “I’m a little tea Pot” was sung by Russ Faulk. This is Russ’ third “victory” in this category, establishing himself as a leader in this particular field of achievment.
Much to everyone’s dismay, missing from last night’s auction, the notorious Star Fokker has gone missing! Surely this is a sign of the upcoming apocalypse. An APB has been issued for it’s return however there has been no mention of a reward so far.
Kurtis Jones has shown us a great video he compiled all week long, including a great stickering of iQuad!
Our president, Gary Engvall is speaking a few words. And he’s prepared too! A huge apology to all the Regional Directors and a huge thank you as well!
Todd Little is talking about convention volunteers and their recognition for the massive job that they undertake every year.
I think Corey cried a little giving John Barresi the Edeiken award… 🙂
And onto awards we go! I’ll add the kitemaker ones later, they are too complicated to try and type as they go by.
[twocol_one]NIPJackie Maciel
Michael Dirk
Wen Jeng
EIP
David Bush
Lisa Stambaugh
Jennifer Brown
MIP
Zach Gordon
Ron Graziano
Josh Gordon
EMP
Wen Jeng
jennifer Brown
Cath Shook
MMP
Zach Gordon
John Barresi
Shawn Tinkham
EPP
Blues Brothers
Wingnuts
Skyjesters
ETP
Team Wingnuts
Loose Screws
MPP
O2
EOS
Full Throttle
MTP
Airzone
Chicago Fire
OPP
Furious George
Something Old, Something New
DnA
Indoor
Paul Debakker
Torrey Linderman
Amy Doran
Team Train
O2
Heaven Help Us
Sky Jesters
Novice Fighter Line Touch
Jim Davis
Kat Gabrel
Carol Jarvie
Experienced Fighter Line Touch
Jim Jarvis
Aaron Champie
Sharon Champie
Individual Rokkaku
Ronda Brewer
Mark Virgilio
Andy Burchfeild
Elizabeth Gordon
Wen Jeng
Dave Bradley
EIB
William Sturdy
Jennifer Brown
David Bush
MIB
Ron Graziano
Josh Gordon
Zach Gordon
EMB
David Ashworth
Amy Doran
Will Seward
MMB
Zach Gordon
John Barresi
Shawn Tinkham
EPB
Fusion
Blues Brothers
Skyjesters
ETB
Team Wingnuts
Loose Screws
MPB
Full Throttle
O2
EOS
MTB
Chicago Fire
Airzone
Smitty and the girls
OPB
Something Old, Something New
Furious George
DnA
Outdoor
Amy Doran
Charly Stoney Stonestreet
Doug Charleville
.
.
.
.
Novice Fighter Skills
Carol Jarvie
Jim Gibson
Lynn Berry
Experienced Fighter Skills
Carl Anderson
Bill Schumacher
Nelson Borelli
Team Rokkaku
Team Bandana Bunch
Team Brat
Team V-Tech
Special Awards
[twocol_one]Steve Edeiken Award
John Barresi
Robert M. Ingraham Award
“The Ticket Chick” Marla Miller
Members Choice Awards
Kite – Glen Haynes
Accessory – Debbie Von Bokem
Aerial Photo of the Year
Peter Dolphin
Best Banner
WOW
The Wackos
Active Forest of the SJKF
Grand Champion
Mike Mosman
[/twocol_one][twocol_one_last]Lee Toy Circle Award
Jon Burkhardt
Regional Director of the Year
Todd Little
Volunteer of the Year
Bernard Fournier
.
Kite Club of the Year
Richmond Air Force
Best Ground Display
The Dallmer’s Ducks
Nancy Lockwood
Bob Lockhart
Kitemaker awards can be found here
And, thats a wrap!. Thanks again for reading these, they have been fun to write and hopefully they have provided you with at least a partial glimpse of the week’s festivities and, a special thanks to Steve DeRooy for taking pictures on a couple of the days when I was too swamped with competing and judging duties. An extra tequila sunrise for you!
Thanks for reading and see you next year…
David Hathaway