International Kite Festival Ljubljana 2019: One Sky, One World!
True, our main business is kite aerial photography, not flying show kites. But kites are beautiful and fascinating and fun flying on their own too, especially if they are big and colorful and when they fill up the sky.
That's why kite festivals are such a big thing in many parts of the world; large gatherings of kite enthustiasts puting on fantastic aerial shows with thousands of spectators in awe. Like the great IKF Gujarat in India that we were so lucky and honoured to attend.
Skies of Ahmedabad, India
Yet the kite culture in Slovenia is, well, underdeveloped, to put it mildly. We reckon there is a correlation between the number of kites and the number of wind turbines in the country: no wind, no windmills, no kites. There are two functioning wind turbines in Slovenia - and one kite club.
In order to bolster the kite culture in Slovenia we were toying with the idea of organizing a kite festival in Ljubljana for some time now, and when the weather forecast was looking good, we went for it! We called our friends of the Zmajoljupci - Kite Flying Lovers club from Zagreb, Croatia, and together we turned our little festival into a proper International Kite Festival Ljubljana 2019.
Žuža and Žare of the Zmajoljupci kite club, Zagreb - from the kite festival in Fuyang, Anhui, China.
And we were three times lucky: on the weekend of the World Kite Day there was warm October sun shining on us, we had plenty of wind, and we had our great friends by our side. It was just perfect ... For all of you who couldn't join us and see the kite show live, here are some photos and videos of the IKF Ljubljana 2019!
Now that's a real show!
First day: a large meadow in Zajcja dobrava landscape park east of Ljubljana.
Everything flew! The Giant Proteus, the Giant Wiener, the Giant Millipede of Zmajoljupci ... all the colorful deltas, flow forms, and fleds, large pilot kites with loooooong tails, the Octopus, the Pirate Dog ... it was amazing to see the sky above Ljubljana coloured in such a nice way.
Video!
Video!
Well, we had a couple of mishaps, a spar in the Giant Wiener broke, one of the kites developed a catastrophic tear, and two kites were eaten by the Dreaded Kite Eating Trees (both recovered intact). But such a perfect kite flying day really couldn't be surpassed. ...
... until the second day came, on a field on Ljubljana Marshes near Podpec, south of Ljubljana. Behold:
Six hours of the show brought numerous spectators who saw the kites flying from the road, turned their cars and came to see what the **** is all that.
Video!
And a guy with a drone came - please enjoy the show of a great photographer and drone pilot, mr. Bojan Senjur!
All in all - the 2. IKF Ljubljana 2019 was beyond anything we expected. It was exhausting, it was fun, it was beautiful, awe-inspiring, peaceful ... and we were all in the great company of the best friends and master kiters.
A big big big thank you to Snježana Hristov and Zmajski Borac-Zare of the Zmajoljupci - Kite Flying Lovers club from Zagreb, to all the organizers and volunteers from KAP Jasa - kite aerial photography, to intrepid flyers Maša and Viktor, to mr. Primož Hieng and mr. Bojan Senjur, and especially to all of you who came to enjoy the kite show for your support.
We declare that the second International Kite Festival Ljubljana 2019 was a total, utter success. And the 3. IKF Ljubljana 2020 is already being planned - so see you in Slovenia next year. One Sky, One World!
Photos by KAP Jasa and Bojan Senjur.