Story and photos by Ron Gibian
Fantastic hospitality!
Fantastic food anywhere and everywhere.
For a wine fanatic like me, this was homecoming. I don’t think I tasted one that I didn’t like. Incredible!
Accomodations for us were great and that seemed to be the case with most everyone.
Interesting day tours to Versailles, Paris, and Roen
Adverse weather conditions made flying difficult at times but hundreds of kites were in the air at every opportunity the fliers had.
Andre Cassagnes, the father of French kiting, at play, at rest.
An incredible array of cultures were in attendance and it was great to visit with many of them. Fliers from thirty five nations were in attendance.
The communal dinners and lunches every day were a real highlight as this was the place to meet and have a chance to talk to everyone who was unreachable out on the field.
With a tent for every country arranged around the performance fields it truly looked like the World Mall of Kites.
Headquarters tents for Holland, Japan, and Spain.
The opportunity to walk every day from our hotel to the fields, through the center of the village of Dieppe, and gaze at all the pastry and food shops, wine merchants and fine clothing stores was great.
Great parties every night in many different pubs in the city, particularly Le Rotunde on the beach.
Gibian’s Gemstone Ruby, and the Latin Group
The Saturday night main dinner was held in a gymnasium in the outskirts of Dieppe. Everyone was bussed there and the group swelled to 800 kitefliers, all seated for dinner in this giant hall. I was told that in previous years this was a relatively calm and quiet dinner. Folks, this year it was not to be!
Michael Alvares and yours truly decided to start a conga line to the stunning beat of the drums played by the group from Belgium. We even had the organizer, Max Gaillard in this line. It turned into a frenzy of handclapping, singing and yelling that lasted nearly an hour. Observing the looks on the faces of the people serving in the room was an experience in itself. They probably thought this was the arrival from another planet. Everyone had a superb time, a night to remember.
The artistic kite competition had the most interesting and awe-inspiring kites that I had seen in a long time. To me, this competition puts emphasis on the right stuff.
Unbelievable organization at a festival this large.
On behalf of Sandra and myself, many many thanks to Max and Serge Gaillard, Isabelle Lebretton and the entire staff of this wonderful festival for their monumental effort and warm hospitality.
