It's duel action for kites

One 100-foot-long kite was decorated withcartoon panels.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CANFIELD -- A black cat, undulating octopus, several birds and dozens of bright cloth squares fluttered, swooped and dove during a kite festival that attracted about 900 to Mill Creek MetroParks Farm.
"It is beauty, it is outdoors, it is sunny," said Karen Zele, of Cleveland, 54, who brought a handmade geometrical kite from Cleveland. "It brings out the kids in old people."
Kids dominated the every-other-year event, from the 6- and 7-year-olds racing their store-bought models to the "middle-aged" children in Viking helmets and matching vests preparing to duel with theirs. Weather cooperated with sunshine and gusts over 25 mph.
During the duel, teams of four people control a single kite which swoops and strikes at opponents. Injuries are not unheard of, usually from team members running into each other, said Harry Gregory, of Streetsboro.
An older 'kid'
"I'm in my mid-40s, going on 10," said Gregory, who was considering trying to loft his duct-taped, life-sized box kite replica of a phone booth after the kite duel between the Ohio Society for the Elevation of Kites and the team Fly Pittsburgh.
Gregory, whose job is designing lightning protection systems for buildings, said he works in duct tape because it is easier than sewing.
Sewing is not an obstacle for Cheryl Kear of Poland, who Saturday was flying a 100-foot long kite, 57 feet of which she had decorated with appliqu & eacute; panels of Snoopy and his avian companion, Woodstock.
She said she makes a kite each year, and for the last several has entered them in a contest at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
This year, a kite with decorated with smiling faces won first place in her category, she said.
"I love to fly kites," she said.
The sentiment was shared by Aaron Dunlany, 5, of Boardman, who was flying a shark kite he got for Easter.
"I like it because it goes high and it is a shark," he said.