Thousands visit kite festival

More than 180 kites painted the skies of Doha with blazing colours on the second day of Aspire’s 1st International Kite Festival, attracting thousands of residents and visitors who thronged the Aspire Park yesterday.“Incredible crowd, everybody wants to fly a kite, everybody wants to create a kite, and everybody wants to decorate a kite,” an organiser told Gulf Times.He said that they will triple the number of seats and tables for the workshops from today to anticipate the surge in visitor arrivals, especially families and children, this weekend.The organiser disclosed that they sold more than 2,000 kites yesterday and around 800 at the festival opening last Monday. “We are running out of kites, we have 2,500 for today and we only have 200 left. We have a lot of colours (paint) but need to provide more space,” he noted. “We thought 5,000 would be enough.”The first day of the festival saw more than 300 posts on Instagram for the children’s poster-making competition alone, according to the organiser.The hot weather also failed to dampen the spirit of participants who want to provide a one-of-a-kind event, he added. Qataris with a passion for kites also participated. “They are bringing big kites, and so we told them they should create a Qatari association and be the core of the event in the next editions,” the organiser said.The event, organised by Aspire Zone Foundation, hopes to see a Qatari team participating in the next editions in the coming years. The organiser expressed confidence that next year’s festival is expected to become bigger, citing the positive response it is getting from the public now.“Going year after year, it could be a very good first and a positive first year to build up an experience,” he stressed.  “Where I come from, in Italy, which is currently hosting the 37th edition, around 250 teams from around the world are participating, and 1,200 kites are flying, it is one of the main events in the world,” he said. “Considering we have 50 kiters and 180 kites flying here, and all these people enjoying, we expect it to grow and expand in the future,” he added.The organiser also lauded Aspire Park, which he described as an ideal venue to host such as prestigious festival.     “People here enjoy more because in the park you can sit and lay down, there are shaded areas and the trees,” he said. “Grass is the perfect element, you feel part of the nature and you can run around to fly your kite.”Apart from kite flying, the festival’s food and beverage section, which offers a variety of snacks and meals, is also attracting a large number of customers.Stilt walkers and other entertainers dressed in colourful costumes roamed around the venue to welcome visitors.