The kite festival in Asturias

As with most events that take place in Asturias, it takes a streak of good luck, a strong wind and a tweet, facebook post or newspaper item falling into your lap on the day an event is likely to take place for you to get to hear about it. Sadly, the marketing of many events is random and generally poor, so much so you generally get to know about something once the dust has settled and it has already taken place.

Not having a TV, taking a regular newspaper or listen to local radio puts us at a disadvantage granted but seriously, marketing and promotion is not something they excel at around here. We do read online Spanish newspapers but it was a random post on facebook on Saturday morning that alerted us to the Kite Festival that was taking place on a local beach so we decided to change our plans and take a look.

Much to our delight there were some pretty impressive kites and quite a few interesting kite flyers who were more than willing to share their passion for all things kite. There were a myriad of designs, sizes, abilities, tricks and turns and it  was really fascinating to witness the many stunt kites and gadgets they were using.

One kite had a remote control camera mounted on the control string and was taking aerial shots of the bay and the event (I want one) and another had a teddy bear attached to a parachute that ascended up the tether to a trigger near the main kite that released the bear which then parachuted back down to earth with a gentle and perfect landing (I want one of these also). The weather was sunshine and clouds with a moderate wind although many of the participants stated that they would have like a bit more.

We chatted at length to several participants and learnt quite a bit so it was well worth the effort. We walked along the coastal path and enjoyed the festival from near and far. It is a real shame that events such as these are not better promoted as there were few people around apart from those connected (literally) to the kites and their families.