2010 Celebrity Kite Flyers
- 180 GO!
- Bart Busse
- Cerfs-volantstylistes Team
- Andrei Chichak, Dorothy Guch and Andrew Chichak
- Adrian Conn
- Dick and Georgean Curran
- Bev Dockrill
- Jose and Julie Garcia
- Ray Gowan
- Don and Alice Guick
- Dr. Raj Hathiramani
- Vince Herchmer
- Lam Hoac
- Don King
- Jean Lamoureux and Michèle Bérubé
- Paul Loranger
- Gary Mark
- Sharon Musto
- John Pollock
- Mike, Andrea Rose and Family
- Bud Taylor
- David Tuttle
More flyers are being added as they are confirmed.
Find out how you can become a Celebrity Kite Flyer at Windscape!
180GO! Kite Performance Team
180 GO! is a dedicated team of quad-line Stunt Kite fliers whose skill and mastery of the air is bringing a new level of excitement to kite festivals and other events. 180 GO! performs precision aerial maneuvers and dynamic formations against a backdrop of popular music that engages and excites crowds both young and old.
In its first year, 180 GO! performed at over a dozen kite festivals in the Midwest and across the country. In our second year we will be at festivals in Georgia, California, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan 180 GO!, as part of the Illinois Kite Enthusiasts Club, is dedicated to promoting the joy and fun of kite flying.
180 GO! is:
Mike Kory - Mike, the captain of 180GO!, flies the red kite. One of the founders of the Illinois Kite Enthusiasts, he has been flying kites since the late 1970s. Mike has flown with 180GO! and the iQuad kite team at events all over the U.S., Canada, Japan and the U.K. He is also the author of the Revolution Team Flying Manual.
Nick Stephenson - Nick flies the purple kite. Since his introduction to quad line flying in June, 2007, Nick has joined the Illinois Kite Enthusiasts and enjoyed traveling to kite festivals throughout the country including Florida, California, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio.
Jeff Faje - Jeff flies the orange kite. He was introduced to modern sport kiting at a 2006 festival and was hooked. He began to specialize in quad flying, then team flying. For Jeff, flying is more than a hobby. It is a source of joy, passion, beauty, friendship, serenity, and even therapy. He looks forward to the day he can fly quads with his young daughter.
Mike Stephenson - Mike flies the blue kite and is the newest member of the team. He has been involved in kiting for many years flying single, dual and, since joining the Illinois Kite Enthusiasts, quad line kites. He enjoys all aspects of kiting, especially traveling to kiting events across the country.
Bart Busse
Bart started with a dual line kite twenty years ago but shortly thereafter switched to a quad line Revolution kite after reading about their amazing control properties. As it is with a lot of people, life managed to get in the way and the kites were shelved, only seeing the sky on rare occasions.
Then in 2007 Team iQuad, a group of Rev fliers, came to the Windscape Kite Festival to perform and everything changed. With new found enthusiasm and inspiration the old Rev I kite came out of storage and soon Bart was adding the newer models to his kite collection to cover the wider range of weather conditions experienced on the prairies.
Since then Bart has been flying often and working to improve his skills to take full advantage of the Revolution kite's capabilities. He can often be seen at his favorite flying spot at Highland Park working on technique and figures.
Bart is always looking to recruit new Revolution fliers. He is one of the founders of Team iWobble, a recreational team for fliers interested in having fun and learning together. He encourages existing local fliers or those that want to learn to fly a Revolution kite to come on out and introduce themselves either during Windscape or whenever you see him with a kite in the air.
"Kite fliers are some of the nicest people I've ever met and I've made many good friends as a result. Free flying lessons and new friendships always available, don't be shy!"
Cerfs-volantstylistes Team
Christine McGee - Montreal, Quebec
Won over by the wind years ago, Christine McGee is the one who breathes a new wind on the Cerfs-volantstylistes with her haute couture kite creations. Christine's unequaled vision produces very unique flying artworks including 3-dimensional aspects added to common 2-dimensional kite styles.
Daniel Remillard - Montreal, Quebec
At night, you will often find Daniel, a great dreamer and thinker, drawing a new sketch. Lover of all bizarre objects that can fly, he creates kites with great skill. His reputation is set above by the dimension of his creations, which are sometimes intriguing, sometimes disarming. He spent more than fifteen years imagining, inventing, developing and creating his masterpieces.
Andrei & Andrew Chichak, Dorothy Guch
Dorothy and Andrei have been flying kites for 25 years and building them for about 20, but never too seriously. Andrew went to his first kite festival when he was 5 weeks old. He flies single, dual, and four line kites.
Adrian Conn
Adrian Conn has been building kites since he was 6 years old. He got into kite build seriously in 1981 when he discovered Rip Stop and fiberglass tubing. Adrian joined the AKA in 1982 and took Grand Championship the same year. He was an AKA Director for three years and have more kites and trophies than he can count. Adrian has travelled (invited) to the four corners of the US, Japan, Australia, etc. He loves kiting and can't get enough of it.
Dick and Georgean Curran
Dick Curran made kites in grade school in Michigan, then after 47 years of schooling, military service, a job, and marriage, Dick and his wife Georgean decided to attend the kite festival in Long Beach, WA, in 1991. 
To participate at a festival, you need a kite, so the couple designed and built their first original kite. Since then, they have designed a number of original kites, both sewn and made with adhesives. Dick and Georgean are primarily single line flyers, but Dick has flown his box kite with quad lines. They have taught at the Ft. Worden Kitemakers conference, and have won numerous ribbons and People’s Choice awards at different festivals.
Georgean's biggest thrill is watching the kite go up for the first time after making it, and Dick's is making something fly that isn't the same old kite everyone else makes.
Bev Dockrill
Bev Dockrill, of Edmonton, Alberta, makes and flies single line kites and loves to come to the Windscape Kite Festival.
Jose and Julie Garcia
Jose has been flying kites for about 17 years. He started with stunt kites, and then moved to power kites, and kite buggying. In the last 3 years he has gotten into one line kites, including large kites. He attends the Washington International Kite Festival every year, and goes to Sunset Beach, Oregon to do his Kite buggying. Having the opportunity to fly different types of kites allows him to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible.
Julie began flying kites 2 years ago. She enjoy small stunt kites, but her passion lies in one line kites, specially the big ones, as children are mesmerized by the size, shapes and colours of these amazing kites, and she enjoys interacting with them.
Ray Gowan
Ray Gowan, of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, has been flying and building kites for many years and has become our resident Stunt Kite Expert. He regularly organizes kite flys out at his farm, inviting new and experienced local flyers to enjoy the winds of the prairies more than just once a year.
Ray also offers lessons to stunt kite beginners, helping them to hone their skills and learn new tricks. He loves being able to share his knowledge and skill with others.
Don & Alice Guick
Don was bitten by the "Kiting Bug" in 1998 on a beach in Mexico. On his return to Winnipeg, he bought a single line delta kite, followed by a dual line kite and it has grown from there. While in Winnipeg, Don volunteered at the ILRC Kite Festival in a variety of roles, including Director of Field and Flyers.
Don enjoys building kites, doing flying demonstrations and other outings. Don has won awards for kite making at the Washington State International Kite Festival, and for kite making at the American Kitefliers Association National Convention. Don's kite bags contain a variety of single line, dual line and quad line kites, line laundry, and ground displays. Some of both Don's and the public's favourites are his flow form, his flex kite, his ghost delta, his swallow flock, and his spikey bouncer, which has provided hours of enjoyment to the young and not so young. Don enjoys interacting and talking with the public at kite festivals. Don and his wife Alice have participated in numerous kite festivals in Canada and the United States.
Don and Alice have instructed kite making workshops in a number of schools in Winnipeg and have continued to do workshops in their new home town of Coaldale, Alberta.
When her husband Don took up kite flying about 10 years ago, Alice tagged along with him and volunteered in the one of the children’s tents at the Winnipeg Kite Festival. The following year she became a kite mascot wandering around the fields in her diamond kite costume giving and handing out information. When Don became more involved in the kite festival she assisted him in his duties and eventually started to assist him in the flying and making of kites. Alice says she is not a real kite flyer, but as she named herself, a “HUMBLE ASSISTANT.” Alice likes to fly single line figure kites and claims the best way to fly is sitting in a lawn chair soaking up the suns rays. She also makes the occasional miniature kite and enjoys doing kids kite making work shops with her husband Don.
Dr. Raj Hathiramani
Raj grew up flying kites where kite flying was especially celebrated at Easter. He was exposed to a tradition of kite flying, not only as a recreational activity but as a form of leisure which brought friends and family together. In his adult years, as he had the opportunity to travel to various countries, he longed to have that sense of comradery, not only on the ground, but in the wind where one can join with other kiters to paint an array of colours in the sky.
Raj recalls with deep sentiment when his mother said to him that once her father taught her how to fly single lined kites when she was a child. And then with a smile on her face she said,"Now my son is teaching me how to fly dual-lined kites."
Perhaps, Raj flies stunt kites today, just to hear the voices of the past whispering to him as his dual-lined strings whistle in the wind.
Vince Herchmer
After watching kite boarders on the Pacific in Los Angles, CA and on the Atlantic in St. Augustine, FL in early 2004, Vince decided he just had to give traction kiting a try.
At the time, Vince and his wife/sometimes assistant Brenda were living in southern Ontario. Unable to locate a kite shop that sold traction kites or any of the name brand kite products, Vince launched HorizonKites.com to fill that niche. In addition to an online presence, they also offered over the counter sales of Premier, New Tech, Peter Lynn, HQ and Gomberg products from their downtown gift gallery in Welland, ON.
Over just a few short years HorizonKites.com's client base has expanded across Canada, the United States, Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia. The move to Alberta's wide open spaces in 2007 has resulted in increased sales of traction products for buggying and kite skiing.
On the kite field Vince prefers large single liners, as once they are launched he is afforded the opportunity to meet and mingle with old and new kite flying friends. Solo flying usually involves the physical workout that only a traction kite can provide, and he can often be found in his neighbourhood park tuning a kite or training a novice traction kiter.
Vince can be contacted through the company website at HorizonKites.com or directly at sales@horizonkites.com.
Lam Hoac
As a multiple time national champion in a number of kiting disciplines, Lam is a featured performer at events all around the country every year... He very much enjoys sharing his passion and wide range of skills with other kite enthusiasts and spectators, as well as interacting with and learning about other cultures.
When Lam was a little kid, he loved to make kites out of bamboo and paper. Every kite had to be done just right, allowing it to fly high and sturdy. He enjoyed every moment, watching his kites fly far away in the sky. He spent most of his time and money buying material, and making kites. As Lam grew up, kites started to fade away as he started to do other things.
Lam Hoac came to Canada in 1979. In the summer of 1985, he met an older gentleman in a park who was flying a delta kite. At that time, he didn't even know that kites were made out of material like nylon and fiberglass because he had only known kites that were made out of bamboo and paper. Not too long after that, Lam found a kite store in downtown Toronto which was called Touch the Sky. He began to buy material and learn how to sew kites. In the beginning, he made simple designs such as delta kites and box kites, to increase his experience in kite making.
He later discovered a group of people who flew every weekend at Humber Bay Park, which is West of Toronto. In late 1986, he switched over to flying dual line kites, which were the flexifoils. At the same time, he met Jim Poy, who only flew stunt kites. From that point on, Lam started buying kites such as the Hawaiian Team Kite, Spinoff, Superdark, Skydart, and so on.
In 1987, Lam designed his first stunt kite, called the Lamborghini. This was a two headed dual line stunt kite. Each time Lam designed a kite he tried to create something special, making it look different from any other kite. Every year, he designed a different kite. His successful designs were the Heartbeat (1989), Swallowtail (1992), Dream Kite (1993), Dream Machine (1996), and his latest one, the Master Control (1998).
In 1988, Lam competed in his first competition at the AKA in Chicago. Since then, Lam has made more and more kites, competed in many competitions, and gained valuable experience. He watched and learned from many master kite fliers, kite makers, kite designers and music mixers. His willingness to listen and learn gave him a solid foundation, and in turn, has rewarded him with great success in kite piloting and design.
Since there are so many great kite makers out there, Lam has begun making single line kites sewn with intricate and detailed graphics. This new field has made his kiting career more interesting and has tested his limits.
Lam would like to thank all the people that he has learned from. "Remember, each time you go out there, you can always learn something new. That is what makes life exciting."
Don King
Don King has been flying kites every since he was old enough to walk. In 2000, he decided to step up his game and began to compete in Bay Area Sport Kite League (BASKL) events in Northern California. In 2002, he won Grand Champion in the West Coast Kite Championships novice division and went on to compete at the American Kite Association (AKA) Nationals in Ocean City, Maryland. Don is past president of BASKL and has served on the Northern California Kite Club (NCKC) board of directors. A few years ago, Don began to share his enthusiasm for kiting by serving as master of ceremonies and announcer at kite festivals. His lively commentary, kite trivia, kite history and other ramblings are enjoyed by crowds of all ages.
Jean Lamoureux & Michèle Bérubé
Jean and Michèle are present in the world of kites and individually in their specific fields: Jean flying dual (or quad) line kites, making his mark with his colourful stacks, and Michèle flying her creations - either single line kites or windsocks. They complement one another with the variety they offer.
Michèle Bérubé discovered the artistic side of kites in 1994
and immediately began building her own creations. This
gave her room to fulfil her creative needs, which were until
then expressed through drawing, painting, writing,
designing and sewing of some of her clothing.
She likes to create forms, work different dimensions, and mix multiple materials and techniques, giving her kites a personal touch - efficiency in a seeming simplicity. Many of her kites are grouped to present an interesting unity when flying together: fish, butterflies, birds, snow flakes, masks etc. Considering the number and variety of her creations, she can fly in many different types of winds.
For Michèle, the whole experience of creating and building her kites is an ongoing joyful adventure which allows her to meet wonderful people, experience interesting cultures, and explore beautiful places.
Jean Lamoureux got hooked on kite flying in 1993, and hasn't slowed down since.
He spent 8 years flying with Quebec's Team S.T.A.F.F., the last 6 of them as team captain. The team style was a mix of European trickery and American flowing flight, and Jean's own personal touch in low wind flying.
Jean is now flying solo and is recognized for flying his very colourful stacks. You will see him with his stack of 20 kites, their long tails gracefully twirling in the slightest breeze. Jean has a knack for performing in virtually no wind.
Jean's personal stunt of flying two 9-kite stacks at once is a must-see. The choice of ballet music is quite special; some of the pieces he flies to are original compositions by his brother. It is an expression of sensitivity put together with kite flying. Watch Jean’s ballet and you will discover a new world.
Paul Loranger
Paul started 20 years ago on dual lines when he was working at a hobby store in Medicine Hat. He flew them regularly for about 10 years then took a few years off when work got busy. Then, Paul moved back to Tofield and discovered an old Skynasaur in the boxes of old stored stuff and it was back on. Thanks to youtube a few years back he found the world of Quad lines. Now, except for the odd buggyride in the desert, he flies Revs almost exclusively. Paul's wife wife, Candace, who is completely new to the kiting world, picked up the handles to a dualie only a few years ago. Paul believes she'll be be outflying him soon, along with his kids.
Gary Mark
Gary flew kites as a child in the 1970s, He really began avidly flying in Vancouver, British Columbia during the late 1980s. He was inspired by one of the greatest international kite ambassadors, Ray Bethell. Kiting in Vancouver's Vanier Park was an almost daily affair for three seasons of the year in the early 1990s. Whilst honing his dual-line skills, Gary became acquainted with the prominent giant kitebuilder of the Northwest, Art Ross. Gary regularly aided Art in launching his signature giant flowform kites in the gentle Pacific breezes at English Bay.
Gary developed a new passion for kites. He and his wife Michelle travelled to the Washington State International Kite Festival for several consecutive years. This gave them the opportunity to meet many kite flyers and builders. A few of those people included David Gomberg, Corey Jensen, Scott Skinner, Ken Conrad, Kathy Goodwind, Randy Tom & Mark Reed.
Moving to Toronto in the mid-1990s gave Gary a new perspective on kite flying. The Aviators, an award winning father and son team lived in the area. Jim and Jeff Poy flew in stunt kite competitions all over North America. Other well know kiters lived in the area as well. Kite altitude record-holder Richard Synergy, AKA multiple champion Lam Hoac, Kitelines editor/reviewer Michael Graves, and prolific kite artists Adrian Conn and Eric Curtis and Anne Slaboda of Boreal Kites lived close by.
Gary's has an extensive collection of kites. Historical & cultural kites include countries like China, Korea & India. He also collected kites built by people in North America. Kevin Shannon, Ron Gibian, Richard Gareau, Dan Flintjer, Reza and Joel Scholz just to name a few. The final jump into collecting large show kites began with a purchase of a used Sutton 252 at a Buffalo kite auction in 2000. Gary now owns several huge show pieces & Peter Lynn inflatables. His collection also includes an extensive collection of Art Ross foils and a huge seventy five pound sixty foot diameter rotating Bol. Gary does make some of his own kites but says he struggles with the sewing machine. He also has a sizeable kite book collection and dabbles in KAP, para-critters, miniatures, pins and patches, and fighters. Gary and his kite collection have travelled to many kite festivals all over the world. He cherishs all the international relationships that have developed over his two decades of kiting.
Gary now owns and runs Blue Sky Kites. It's a wholesale and retail kite business. He also enjoys organizing kite events on behalf of the Toronto Kite Fliers, Canadian Kite Federation and the Drachen Foundation. The Descendants of Alexander Graham Bell presented Gary with a genuine Bell tetrahedral cell in 2007. It was given in recognition of Gary's organizing skills for creating the 2007 Cygnet Centennial Celebration. He considers that event as high light of his kiting career.
Kites continue to capture his fascination and imagination everyday. If you see Gary on the field please say hello!
Sharon Musto
Sharon Musto is enthralled by spectacular skies, wide open spaces, and KITES! She is delighted to be back for Windscape 2010!
Sharon has been building and flying kites since 1995. From the very beginning, she found her enthusiasm too great to be contained, so she shared it, promoting kites as much as life would allow! As a teacher, she found that her job meshed well with her hobby because there are many, many ways kites can be used as a teaching tool at all grade levels, and all levels of ability. Sharon offers workshops in schools, at professional development “in-services” for teachers, and at conferences.
Sharon’s kites have garnered numerous awards and recognition both nationally and internationally, but Musto says she still feels like a novice. There are so many design ideas to explore, and the possibilities for graphics on kites are as endless as the sky is high and wide.
Internationally, Sharon has competed in and judged numerous kite building competitions at the ‘Masters’ level, participated in numerous exhibits and served as International Director of the American Kitefliers Association (2000 to 2006) representing members in more than 30 countries around the world.
Recently, Sharon moved to Alberta where she has teamed up with the Kite Guys creating kites, custom banners and windsocks. They continue to present kitemaking workshops to “children” of all ages at every opportunity. She also continues to promote kiting in Canada as a representative of the Canadian Kite Federation/ Fédération Canadienne du Cerf-Volant.
"Kites have enriched my life immensely. They offer a means of self-expression, of enjoying the outdoors, connecting with other people, and they're a powerful stress reliever -- among countless other merits!"
John Pollock
John Pollock approaches his kites first as art pieces. He is an art teacher, an artist and a kitemaker. John is a Professor of Art at Montana State University-Billings, where he has taught since 1974. Painting and lithography, which are the areas of media that he works in, have also become his method of creating images on kites.
Over the years he has received many awards and fellowships in printmaking, watercolor, and now in kitemaking. He started showing and competing with his kite on a national level in 1999 and has received awards every year since. The most prestigious of these awards has been twice receiving the Grand National Champion Award at the American Kitefliers Convention. The first was in 2004 for a kite titled “The Crows Stealing the Buffalo Ponies”. The second was in 2007 for a kite titled “Good Times”. Both of these kites have images that are hand painted on nylon by a process using acrylic paint.
To be able to paint on nylon the way Mr. Pollock is currently doing, he spent much of his time while on sabbatical during 2003/04 experimenting with different materials and processes. The successful results turned out to be fairly simple and involve the use of acrylic paint and a special additive made by Golden Acrylics. The results have been very successfully both visually and durable. Besides painting on kite material, John will occasionally create an image and directly print the image onto the nylon material using hand lithography. These processes have been used to make many of the kites that he will be flying at this festival.
John is also very sharing with his ideas and methods. He has conducted several kite painting workshops and demos at various places around the country. Kiting, The Journal of the American Kitefliers Association, printed an article written by him about his painting process in the Spring Issue of 2007.
Mike & Andrea Rose & Family
The Rose's having been flying kites of all sorts for many years now. It has become a family passion which allows them to spend time together as family, enjoy the outdoors and have lots of fun. They enjoy all kinds of kites but especially dual and quad line stunt kites. They are members of the American Kite Flyers Association, B.C. Kite Flyers Association and the Kite Trade Association International. The Rose's own the Great Canadian Kite Company based in Alberta, Canada which sells quality performance kites world-wide.
Bud Taylor
Bud Taylor is from Airdrie, Alberta and is Canada’s “Kite Guy”. He is an avid flyer and kite builder for more than 40 years. Bud and his family have attended and participated in many kite festivals around Canada and the United States and he is a regular at all of the Windscape festivals here in Swift Current.
Bud’s father Dusty Taylor introduced his boys on their fervor of kites at a very young age of around 5 years old. Kite building lessons took root almost immediately after the introduction of their first home built newspaper kite made with wooden sticks, binder twine and Mom’s old stockings. The passion for kiting continued to grow within his boys and took them from simple materials found around the house into the more advanced high tech fabric and carbon spars of today. The lessons he taught to his boys have taken a dream and made it into a reality that they truly enjoy sharing with others and introducing their friends to those new heights.
Bud, along with now deceased brother Scott, started The Kite Guys kite business in 1989 and have been looking skyward ever since. The business deals with all aspects of kiting from teaching simple basic kite building workshops in schools and group sessions to flying the more advanced dual & quad line kites and right into the all out crazy power of today’s Traction kites. Bud will fly anything and everything and you can usually find him outdoors soaking up the sun and the wind and enjoying his perpetual youth at the end of a kite line. He is an active member of many kite clubs and organizations and is most willing to share his passion with all who are interested.
www.kiteguys.ca / email kiteguys@shaw.ca. His motto: “Fly a kite, just for the health of it.”
David Tuttle
David Tuttle has been interested in kites since the late 1970s when at the Ontario College of Art he was assigned a kite design project. This piqued his interest and he eventually became totally involved in kites and kite flying.
After a move to Vancouver in 1981 he began working at High as a Kite in Gastown and joined the British Columbia Kitefliers Association where he fulfilled various executive positions in the club structure over the years. He is currently a member of the B.C.K.A and the A.K.A.
He first visited Swift Current in 1997 to help plan the first Windscape Kite Festival in 1998 and to curate the kite exhibition “On Blue - The Kite As Art”. He enjoyed the prairies and prairie people so much he came back to live. He now now assists with the planning and set-up of the current “Windscape” festival.
David enjoys building and flying single line kites of all types especially cellular designs and kite trains. He also enjoys collecting kite books and currently has a kite library of over 80 volumes.
