High Flying Action This Weekend
KITES AND POLE VAULTERS WILL SOAR SATURDAY
Eugene, OR — The Pac-12 Track & Field Championships shift to Hayward Field following the multi-events last weekend in Corvallis. Come and see the nation's best as they run, jump and throw in an attempt to win the championship and move onto the NCAA Track Championships at Hayward Field June 7-10.
For an engaging and entertaining experience, come see the colorful kites take to the skies for the annual Asian Kite Festival this Saturday, May 13 from noon until 4:00 p.m. at the Yujin Gakuen Japanese Immersion School located at 250 Silver Lane, Eugene. The event is free and open to all ages to participate.
The Eugene/Springfield Asian Council and Yujin Gakuen present an afternoon of kite-flying competitions, kite-making classes, taiko drumming, performances by the Chinese lion dancers, Yujin Gakuen singers, Iron Mango Orchestra (ukulele), and Eugene Chinese School, The festival also includes hands-on craft activities such as making a carp streamer known as a “koinobori” courtesy of River Road Park’s Art Bus. Favorite Japanese treats, including “Mochi,” will also be available.
Festival attendees, who arrive without a kite and wish to enter the kite -flying competitions, can make their own Asian fighter kite for $3, which covers the cost of materials. The kite competition will award prizes to participants in several categories, including highest flying, lowest flying, most artistic, most original, and crazy looking.
“All ages are welcome to make an Asian fighter kite in the class. The design is based on a light weight Asian fighter kite designed to fly in winds as low as one mile per hour,” says Ken Nagao, a founder of the Asian Kite Festival and kite enthusiast. The kite –making kits were originally designed by Indonesian Fighting Kite Designers Jan Steevenz and Maurice de la Rambelje, who are now deceased, but were involved in the early years of the festival in Eugene.
I have seen them fly their kites indoors (no wind); therefore, we expect to see all of the kites take flight regardless of wind conditions,” Nagao said.
Nagao will have a number of his Asian kites on display, most of which he made himself, including his latest creation, a 5 ft. x 11 ft. kite depicting the castle built by the Nagao Clan on Kasugayama (Spring Day Mountain) in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. “It was destroyed when the Meiji took over, but the moat is still intact – now called Nagao Castle Park,” Nagao said.
Festival Contact:
David Tam, Event Chair, (541) 554-9350
Ken Nagao, Asian Kite Festival Founder, (541) 687-9600, ken@nagaopacific.com

Author: Andy Vobora
Vice-President of Stakeholder Relations, Travel Lane County
541.501.9398 | 541.743.8770
Travel Lane County markets and promotes the Eugene, Cascades and Coast region as a destination for travel, conventions, sports, meetings and events. It serves as a private, nonprofit association dedicated to economic development through visitor spending, which pumped more than $783 million into Lane County, Oregon's economy in 2019. EugeneCascadesCoast.org