How did 21 years pass so fast?

21 years ago; in 1990, our founder Connie May hosted the first Callaway Kite Flight.

21 years ago Connie May and her family were camping at Pressey Park, one of their favorite get-away places north of Oconto, NE, when Connie looked up, saw a kite in the sky, and considered an event, set in Callaway, that would bring kite fliers and spectators together. If you knew Connie, you know that an idea soon became an expanded thought which became a “wild and crazy idea” segment to the local Chamber economic development meetings which then became a full-blown attempt to start something new and fun in Callaway, a village of some 600 people in central Nebraska.

She contacted the American Kitefliers Association’s Region VII Director Don Murphy who contacted AKA members such as Scott Skinner. The rest is history.
A few fliers came that first year. Connie wrote a grant for state tourism funds to market the event. Chamber and other Callaway citizens stepped up to help, host people in their homes, and stage a fun fly which has grown into a small legend in both tourism and kite flying lore: a crazy combination of volunteers who believe in their small town and want to bring guests here, professional fliers who often are paid to fly at other flies (but not at Callaway where the small budget truly is), and guests from near and far who fly, watch, and simply enjoy the skies full of colors and shapes and designs.

Today a small group of women organize and manage the Callaway Kite Flight, a small group of Callaway Lions Club members provide unbelievable support including getting the Kite Flight site ready, and a large group of Labor Day weekend volunteers give of themselves to work at the gate, the concessions stand, and the registration building plus serve as parking aids and Fly Cops.

A new t-shirt design each year always includes a windmill (we’re in the Sandhills of Nebraska where cattle and ranches abound), stick figures flying a kite, the words Callaway Kite Flight, and the number of years for the event. The Callaway Kite Flight t-shirt and each year’s special commemorative pin are available during the event and in Callaway businesses prior to Labor Day weekend.