The 79th Ocean Beach Children’s Kite Festival is officially complete, and what a weekend it turned out to be. The San Diego Kite Club once again played a major role in helping support one of San Diego’s longest-running family events, and this year felt especially meaningful. This is one of the oldest kite festivals in the US that is focused on children. In CA, it holds the #1 spot.
This year, the San Diego Kite Club proudly donated $500.00 to the festival in honor of Jim Nickel, somebody whose name and spirit continue to be deeply connected to this event and the Ocean Beach community. In addition to the donation, the club also purchased roughly $300.00 worth of candy for the annual candy drop event, which continues to be one of the most exciting moments of the entire festival for the kids. If someone didn’t get a piece of candy, we had stickers waiting for them. Although, this year we planned the candy volume perfectly and anyone who wanted a piece got one. A big thank you to our treasurer Don Fox for shopping ahead of time and providing healthy alternatives.
Lets make things clear for all you readers. Its the Kiwanis Club of Ocean Beach and the Ocean Beach Woman’s Club that make most of the magic happen. They start preparing 8 months in advance, pull together all the vendors and sponsors, organize endless tasks to make this day come to life. They should get ample love and credit for what they do.
The day started long before the public arrived. Wind was present on the field for the entire morning and afternoon.
Volunteers Nathan Yoder and Ziggy met at Melanie Nickel’s house promptly at 6:00 AM to begin loading trucks and organizing equipment for transport to the field. By sunrise, the crew was already working hard setting up the flight line, kite hospital, activity areas, sound equipment, demonstration space, tables, tents, and countless other things most attendees never even realize are happening behind the scenes. The U-Haul was filled and sent off to the festival grounds.
The DJ of 10 years, Valentino did a fantastic job with the field sound system, music throughout the event and coordinating with 1st time announcer, Ziggy.
As the crowds started rolling in, the field quickly transformed into exactly what this festival has become known for over nearly eight decades. You could see colorful skies, excited families, kids running everywhere, music playing across the field, and kites flying in every direction. The festival began
Throughout the day, San Diego Kite Club members stayed busy helping run activities, demonstrations, crowd engagement, and field operations. Here is the general program of events. However, we added several demos and extra tail chase and tail touching when time allowed.
The candy drop once again became one of the biggest attractions of the day. Our pilots Don Fox and Rick Spurgeon flew 2 lifter kites both holding candy to double the fun. We had a great list of volunteers loading candy between age groups and more volunteers to throw candy overhead so more would appear on the ground. Kevin and Ryan Heredia helped load up candy and throw handfulls into the crowd. Club members Shawn Farrow, the Cassidy family and others joined to assist the two pilots working their magic.
The Tail Chase event brought huge reactions from the crowd as Don Fox flew a quad-line kite while children attempted to catch the tail across the flying field. Don does a wonderful job keeping everyone safe and making this event in the program successful.
Flying demonstrations took place throughout the day and showcased several different styles of kite flying. Eric Olaes demonstrated Hyperkites, Ray Miller did 2 tail touches with Hyperkites, Nathan Yoder performed dual-line routines, Max Plisskin and Austin Chu of La Kite Club also performed. A quad-line team performance featured Scott Wieder, Don Fox, Ziggy, Joe Hadzicki, Vernon White, Tom King and Mark Quirmbach was set for the grand finale. Everything went smooth throughout the day of ariel demonstrations.
Somewhere in the middle of all the chaos, Ziggy somehow survived a full day on the microphone as announcer and emcee for the event. He will tell you now that there is room for improvement
One of the most rewarding parts of the festival was watching how many people stopped to engage with the FREE kite making area. Children would get a free kite, color it and potentially be a content winner for their art. Families walked through the kite hospital asking questions, children received help launching kites, spectators stood watching demonstrations for long stretches of time, and many older attendees shared stories about attending this same festival decades ago when they were children themselves.
That part really sticks with you. This event has history. Real history. You can feel it while standing on the field.
As the festival wrapped up, club volunteers immediately shifted into cleanup mode. Once everything was loaded onto the truck, Nathan Yoder and Ziggy followed the truck back to the Nickel’s resident to unload the equipment for next year.
And like most successful events, the work after the public leaves is sometimes harder than the setup itself.
After cleanup was complete, volunteers gathered together for a volunteer appreciation dinner at Rockin Baja Lobster in Old Town. This year’s dinner was generously provided by the Kiwanis Club of Ocean Beach and the Ocean Beach Woman’s Club, continuing the strong partnership and appreciation shared between these organizations and the San Diego Kite Club.
Following the event, the club began receiving an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from attendees, volunteers, organizers, and community members. People reached out sharing stories about how much fun their children had, how beautiful the kites looked in the sky, and how much positive energy could be felt throughout the event grounds all day long.
Karen Froehner from the Kiwanis Club of Ocean Beach shared this message with the club:
“Please tell the kite club that they have my and the Ocean Beach Kiwanis Club’s deepest gratitude for helping us at the festival from set-up to breakdown and to storage. My goodness, you all are wonderful! I have been getting so many compliments about the kites, the atmosphere, and the joy that was felt throughout the event. That has to do with you being the emcee and your kite flyers. All I can say is thank you for everything your club has done for us.”
The club also received a heartfelt message from Melanie Nickel:
“Hi, Ziggy! I’m writing to thank you, and your whole Kite Club, for your generous donation of $500 to this year’s Ocean Beach Children’s Kite Festival. You and your people helped to make it a huge success. As you know, this was our 79th Kite Festival. It gets better every year because of you guys! So thanks again for all your help, and I’m looking forward to many more years with you!”
Messages like these are a reminder of why this club continues doing what it does. The San Diego Kite Club is not just about flying kites. It is about community, friendships, volunteering, mentorship, creativity, public engagement, and creating positive memories for families all across San Diego County. For many people attending the festival, this was probably just a fun Saturday near the beach. For the volunteers, organizers, and longtime members who help make it happen every year, it means a little more than that.
It means carrying on a tradition that has lasted 79 years. It means honoring the people who helped build it. And it means making sure the next generation gets to experience the same joy many of us found years ago standing on a flying field for the first time.
Thank you again to every San Diego Kite Club membesr, volunteers, organizers, flyer, supporters, donors and community partners who helped make this year’s Ocean Beach Children’s Kite Festival another huge success. Before ending this article, lets recognize the donors, the sponsors and the organizations who made this event possible.
Donors: Pazzo’s Pizzeria, Luigi’s, Poma’s, Dirty Birds, Barons Market
Sponsors: La Jolla Kiwanis, San Diego Sunshine Fund,
OB Community Foundation, Sacred Heart Church,
Submerge Church, Ocean Beach Speech (Point Loma),
Peninsula Hearing & Balance, OB People’s Food Co-Op,
OBBC (OB Business Center), Bluebird Play
Volunteers: OB Community Foundation, MADCAPS, Scouting America
This year’s kite festival is dedicated to
longtime chairman Jim Nickel, 1942-2025
Until next year when we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Ocean Beach Children’s Kite Festival!