Kite
Flyer
December 2000 Issue Route
66 Kite Club (R66KC)
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Kite Club Phoenix, AZ
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To Visit Our Web Site Click Here!
Table Of Contents
Please note that there
are several Hot Links usually in blue and underlined for your convenience.
(It is recommended
that all articles be read.)
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Hot Buttons |
Descriptions
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Quick Thoughts From The Editor |
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Letter From The Director And/Or AKA News |
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This Months Flying Schedule |
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What Happened On Last Months Flys |
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Long Term Dates And Plans |
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Other Items Of interest |
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Questions To The Club |
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Special Tips and Tricks From The Fly’n Hawaiian |
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Notes From Our Very Own Kite And Banner Maker |
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Fun Kite Stuff |
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Lost Puppies And Things For Sale |
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Cover My Ass Legal Ease |
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Please Help Yourselves |
Web Site Links
(Just Click On Them And Go!)
Reminder: I will be publishing anything and
everything that comes my way that relates to kites. If you wish to communicate
with me, and DO NOT want something
used in the Kite Flyer, please indicate what part of your E-mail is private.
Otherwise, everything is fair game. Send me something, come on, I dare
you! In any event, I could really use the help so send your articles to: R66KC@TMSquared.com.
Hey Kiters,
We have had only one e-mail response
to Al-Habib’s original request, so I am reprinting the original question.
From Al-Habib:
November is almost here
and I was just thinking. I know, I know, rare event... But
anyhow. What are we going to do as a club for National Kite Month in 2001?
It's about time to start planning.
Al-Habib, The Tent Maker
Well the one inquiry
we had relating to this was from Anthem! What a great surprise! They
are interested in having the Club join them for their Springtime, two-day arts
& crafts festival called Anthem Days. If you recall we joined them at this
event last year at their 63-acre community park north of town. In addition to
the arts & crafts, this festival included food, games, music, sports, train
rides, and several visual activities.
It is a fun-filled, family-oriented weekend with attendance that
exceeded 10,000 last year. They are planning to have it on March 17th
and 18th next year.
Last year the
Play-It-By-Air (AKA I-Maginations) hosted this great event and sold kites to
the masses with the R66KC in supporting attendance. They did an outstanding job
with demos, a candy drop and more. Anyone would be hard pressed to emulate what
they had accomplished. Unfortunately the kite store in Tucson is no more, and
Anthem has turned to our club to help make this a glorious event work once
again. So we will need lots of help and
ideas to once again make this a wonderful event.
We will attempt to
contact the previous owners of the Tucson kite store, and the only remaining
kite store in Arizona Dream Merchant Kites near Kingman, to see if they would
be interested in selling kites once again. Perhaps the little store in Sedona,
“Flags, Kites, and Fun Factory” might want to come down and hock their wares.
(What do you say Ron?).
The charity angle was broached
with the Anthem representative, that for our attendance and support of their
function they might be able to make a monetary contribution to our chosen
charity, The Sunshine Acres Children’s Home on our behalf. They indicated that
they would take it under advisement and let us know in the near future.
So
lets all get together on the next several Fly’s (oops it’s down again),
and
brainstorm what we want to do!
We will attempt to talk about this
on the field, but we all get carried away having fun. So how about shooting the
Gadget Man an e-mail (thomas.manson@arz.boeing.com)
with your ideas on this subject, and I will post the joint ideas for the whole
club to discuss.
We might even be able to get the
new Yuma Club, the Westwind Flyers to join us and help to support this event.
(What do you say Ray?) And with any luck we might get the original ArFF and Tucson
Flyers to come and join the fun as well.
On Another Note
Well for those of you keeping tabs, it appears that the original
Arizona Free Fliers (ArFF) web site has disappeared from sight. This too was
supported by the now defunct Tucson Kite shop. (All to bad and we all wish them
the best in their latest endeavors.) They indicated that they would be down for
a short period to setup shop on a new server. Well it has been about four weeks
and it hasn’t reappeared. So the R66KC
web site is in the process of creating it’s own areas to replace what is now
missing from the Arizona scene. We had links to the ArFF Safety page, the
Calendar, and the Bulletin Board. A new R66KC Kiting Basics and Safety page has
been created and is worth a look so click here and take a gander http://www.tmsquared.com/kite_safety.htm
The Calendar of events is in works, as well as a new Bulletin Board for the
club. Spectra Mike hosts a web site himself, and is attempting to create a
replacement for the Arizona Free Flyer. For more information on his efforts, go
to: http://communities.msn.com/FreeFlyers (This will require that you sign up for the free Micro-Soft Network (MSN)
access.) So keep your eyes pealed for new updates to the Route 66 Kite Club web
site.
By the way, now would be the time to make plans, and reservations for
next May’s (05/18-20/2001) Route 66 Kite Club Fly With Our Sister Club the
San Diego Kite Club (SDKC). Call the San Diego “Beach Cottages” hotel at
(858) 483-7440 and reserve your rooms now.
Keep’em Fly’n
Gadget Man Manson
AKA News Or
Directors Editorial
A Note From Our
Director Billy Mad Dog Dines
Dear Kiters,
Another month has gone by and that brings us to Christmas before we get
our next newsletter. I had a really nice Thanksgiving over at my brother's
son's house. I've only had time to fly
a few times this month and one of those times was in the street on Thanksgiving
Day. I put up my big Crystal Kites
single-line delta that I bought in San Diego a few months back. It has a beautiful American flag design and
really looks great in the air. I hang a
couple of long twisters to the trailing edges and away it goes. It seems to fly on very little air and still
lifts the laundry.
I also had an unusual experience this month. An old flying buddy of mine from back in the days of radio
controlled boats, planes, and cars, called me up out of the blue and wanted to
get together and reminisce about old times. You see, before all this kiting
madness, I used to be a radio-control freak. When I learned about kiting and
found that I didn't have to spend hours building and re-building broken boats,
planes, and cars, it just became a no-brainer decision to fly kites. Besides, there were no more frequency
problems or concerns about that battery charge or the little part that broke
and ended up breaking the whole thing.
I'll bet there's few of you out there with similar experiences in the
R/C world. Anyway, back to my unusual
experience. This old friend of mine,
whom I haven't seen for twenty years, got into flying real airplanes. He invited me to go flying with him for a
breakfast run to Tucson. He has a
Cessna 172 that's from the late "70's" but looks brand new. We flew out of the Goodyear airport and
passed behind South Mountain on our way to Tucson. I actually flew over a huge open-pit mine down by Eloy that I
never new existed. You see these types
of mines in Bisbee and Ajo but didn't know this one existed. We had breakfast at a little airport just on
the North side of Tucson by the huge cement plant that we pass on I-10. The
weather and visibility was great that day so the flight was really fun. I gave
my friend a kite lesson at the airport on my return and he'll probably be a
convert in a few weeks. He's the type
of guy who likes the hands on approach to everything and he asked lots of
questions about building your own kites and where to buy this and that. I'll have to hook him up with Jonathan.
As a last thought, maybe we could get Dave Evans to write some articles
for our Newsletter. Dave, you have a
wonderful way of telling stories and writing about current kiting activities
around the country. Maybe you could be
our link to the rest of the kiting world.
It's just a thought, but we could use your expertise in this arena.
I hope everyone had a real nice Thanksgiving and I wish you all a very
Merry Christmas before the fact.
Hopefully we'll all have new toys to show off the day after Christmas.
I will be looking forward to seeing all of you on the field in the near
future, so until next time----
Bill Dines, Director Route 66 Kite
Club
Upcoming Flying Events
Note: All flying events will be from
12:00 noon through 4 or 5 p.m. unless otherwise posted.
Club Fly At
The Riverview Park – 12/03/00 – Sunday:
(See web site Kite Field Recommendations
for maps.) As per usual the fly times are from 12 noon to about 5pm in the
afternoon. Let’s try to do
dinner and drinks after.
Riverview Park (Southeast) This Park is located approximately one quarter
of a mile south of Highway 202 on Dobson Road. Take the 202 to the Dobson Road
turnoff and head south. The park is on the west side of the road.
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Rating: |
Good |
Restrooms: |
South Side |
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Kiters That Can Fly: |
30 |
Drinking Fountains: |
South Side |
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Non-Kiter Visibility: |
Medium |
Park Benches: |
No |
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Distance To Amenities: |
3 Miles |
Shade Available: |
Lots |
Club Fly At
The Hippie Man Park – 12/17/00 – Sunday: (See web site Kite Field Recommendations for
maps.) As per usual the fly times are from 12 noon to about 5pm in the
afternoon. Let’s try to do
dinner and drinks after.
Original Hippie Park (North)
Was the “Jim Jennings Park”, and can be located by going north on I-17 to Bell
Rd., west on Bell to 29th Ave., then south on 29th to
Grandview, and finally west again on Grandview for two blocks.
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Rating: |
Great |
Restrooms: |
None |
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Kiters That Can Fly: |
30 |
Drinking Fountains: |
None |
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Non-Kiter Visibility: |
Poor |
Park Benches: |
Yes |
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Distance To Amenities: |
1 Mile |
Shade Available: |
Lots |
Note: By popular demand and the desire
to socialize after a fly with a meal and possibly drinks, the club flying
events will be moving, periodically,
to SATURDAYS!!! Stay tuned as to when this
will start. Park selection will be
alternated so that no single group of individuals will have to drive a long way
all of the time.
Special
Note: Lady
Hummingbird and the Gadget Man have purposely bought three indestructible Beetles for guests! Please do not hesitate to ask for them when you have a
guest attending our events.
Latest Fly Reports
Fly Report
For The Club Fly At The Riverview Park – 11/04/00 – Saturday
Report By: Al-Habib The Tent Maker
Saturday's fly was a bust. I showed up at about 1:30pm to an empty
field. I trooped my kites out and felt the wind for a bit. It felt
like I had enough wind to get the Sutton off the ground. I unpacked the
Sutton and sure enough, it inflated and held itself off the ground. I
grabbed the line for it and got everything ready to launch and...
nothing. Nada zip wind. Ok, I thought, I'll wait a bit and it will
come back. I unpacked the ProWren and made the best of the fickle 1 to 2
mph winds that prevailed for the next hour. At about 2:30pm I was still
alone on the field and the weather looked like the much-predicted rain was
going to arrive soon. I decided to pack everything up and go on to other
business. It was nice to be outside, but not a real "on" day
for kiting.
Al-Habib, The Tent Maker
Fly Report
For The Tucson Kite Festival – 11/19/00 – Sunday
This report provided by our very own man in the field, Spectra Mike.
A good time was had by all. A wide variety of kites were displayed and flown. The boomerang demo was great as always, and the kids loved the candy drop which is always a big hit!!! Ron’s one-man three kites demo was a fine site. I am so glad the wind cooperated.
WIND! What a squirrelly bag of
tricks our Arizona wind was on this day. After the morning breeze from the east
wore off it began to come from the northwest, the west and at times banners
flapped in one direction at one end of the field and in different directions at
the opposite end. Strange, but not unheard of in Arizona. The wind most of the
day was on and off but by demo time was real consistent and finished the day
great.
The kite workshop put about 30
kids on the field with the kites they made. What a happy site it was to see
them enjoy the kites they made with the help and guidance from Brian and
Joanne. The local talent also gave new people tips and help getting them
flying. I took some pics and will hope to have them on here by the end of next
week. I will get more details of the who's who of the day and add to this
message.
I want to take a minute to give special thanks to Brian and Joanne from Play It By Air for their dedicated work for the community as well as to our fine sport/hobby/pastime/funtime. They have always put forth a major effort in events to help promote kiting. Their time and personal resources continue to promote the fine spirit kiting. They are never too busy to lend a hand or guidance. These are the kind of people who make it great. They are not alone. They do stand out. But there are a lot of fine people who bring many others and me a smile and friendly insight to kiting.
I had the pleasure of presenting
Brian (Randy) and Joanne with a small token of appreciation. Each received a
coyote made of pewter. One was a coyote walking and one was in the classic
howling stance. They are in recognition of the Legendary Coyote Kite Club of
Tucson.
Thanks to all who came and thanks
to all who helped out. It was another great day for Kiting.
Spectra Mike and Andy
Fly Report
For Club Fly At The Hippie Man Park – 11/18/00 – Saturday
Well the park was full of soccer
players, so we set up on the other side of the Park. The wind was mediocre at
first so a couple of single liners were launched. And relaunched. And
relaunched again. Al-Habib attempted his Sutton with only temporary success.
Needless to say, the day was an ultra light day at best, with the majority of
time spent chatting with friends.
This was the first time that the Gadget
Man was able to fly the infamous Sky Surfer.
On his first flight, bringing it down for an adjustment, he lost a part
that kept the canopy spread. After about 40 minutes of searching, Rocky Point
Howard came up with a replacement part that worked for the rest of the day.
Gadget man was in such a hurry to get out and fly with the rest of the crew
that he forgot the recharger for the batteries. So the flight time of the new
toy was limited to two batteries that lasted just under 1 hour. Johnathan took a
hand at flying this new gadget, and Rocky was about to give it a try when the
last battery died.
Oh well, perhaps we will have a
better shot at it at Riverview in two weeks. Maybe we will get a little wind as
well.
Extra Report From
Al-Habib
The weatherman said
that the winds on Saturday 18th were going to be high due to a cold front
moving into Arizona. He should have checked our fly schedule because the
wind never blows on a kite fly day. I showed up at Hippie Park to find to
find Tom and Jane trying to fly their Rok and Delta single liners. Note
the "trying to fly" The winds would gust up enough to tease you
and then dip down to nothing. I set up camp and watched Tom scoot around
the fly field in an attempt to get the wind to cooperate. After a bit,
Howard showed up to join in the fun. Tom decided to give up on the single
liners and switched from wind power to battery power. He brought out his
new toy and proceeded to buzz around the field like a madman.
Howard unpacked his
newest kite. Howard downloaded some plans off the internet and made a Rok
for himself. The yellow and red Rok was about 4 to 5 feet tall and was
very well made, IMHO. Howard did some good work. Howard and I
chatted about making kites and some tweaks for the Rok. The winds didn't
allow for a demo flight. Tom managed to lose a piece off his new toy and
while emergency repairs were being made, Howard and I pulled out a Wren and
ProWren. After working on keeping these excellent kites in the sky we
decided that the gods just didn't want unpowered flight to happen on that
day. As the kites were packed up and being put away, Toms Rok caught the
slightest bit-o-wind and flopped over and covered up Howard's baby Rok.
After careful examination, the group consensus was that Toms Rok was putting
the moves on Howard's new kite. I'm not sure if custody of the resulting
offspring was settled, but we all had a good laugh.
After all the kites
were packed up, the wind started to pick up a bit. I made a desperate attempt
to launch my Sutton on the quick and was rewarded with about 5 minutes of
flight. The day ended with everybody having enjoyed the company of our
friends and Toms new toy, which was definitely the show stopper on that fickle
Saturday afternoon.
Al-Habib, The Tent Maker
(Special Note: We need to find more
parks with an audience to introduce more non-fliers to the sport. Some
discussion at the last fly was made of parks that might fit the bill. Please
send in your recommendations ASAP so that we can start trying them out. R66KC@TMSquared.com.)
Future & Annual Events
- - - Next Year - - -
Easter Assention Tradition
One of our members,
Juan, states that he has a tradition in the country that he is from, Guyana,
which is to fly kites during Easter, especially Easter Sunday. Actually, this
is the only time kites are flown in Guyana he states. The reason being that sending
a kite up into the skies is significant of Jesus's resurrection and ascension
to the Father. He keeps this tradition with his family and plans on flying
Easter Sunday. We may or may not plan a fly on Easter each year, mainly because
lots of us plan on being together with family on this special day, but we will
all be with Juan in spirit. If you remember this tradition from Guyana on
Easter, try to get a kite up and think of this tradition.
If anyone has or knows
about traditions such as this, please send them in so that we can share them
all with the rest of the club. And let’s all join Juan and Guyana in this
wonderful Easter Ascension tradition!
05/18-20/2001 – Route 66 Kite Club Fly With Our Sister Club the San
Diego Kite Club (SDKC). Come
and tryout some really great winds with loads of fun for the whole family. Sea
World, Old Down, Seaport Village, Mission Bay, Mission beach, the ocean,
shopping, and a myriad of other things for the family to do. We will be joining
the SDKC, (http://www.sdkc.net) at their Mission Bay Park for a Sister
club fly on Saturday, with a night fly on the beach Saturday evening. A
Saturday evening barbecue will be promoted as well. We would like to have
everyone stay at the same hotel if possible for easier logistics. The “Beach
Cottages” hotel is on Mission Boulevard (858) 483-7440 and right on the beach
for everyone’s enjoyment with lots of shops and restaurants within easy walking
distance. The rooms run from $75-$85/night for hotel rooms through $250/night
for a two-bedroom cottage. Jane and I
have a one-bedroom cottage that we all can congregate at, so my recommendation
is the cheaper rooms. Everyone should
get their reservations in early because this is a popular place. Hope to see you
all there!
09/21-23/2001 – September
San Diego Sister Club in San Diego w/ the San Diego Kite Club Event. More information to follow when available. See
the May event below for lodging information.
10/07/2001 – One Sky One World (OSOW) Annual kite event for world
piece. More to follow as information becomes
available.
- - - Ideas For New Events - - -
We need help with these so if you have any ideas
that will support this event, please let us know by dropping us a line at: r66kc@tmsquared.com
Sunshine
Acres Children’s Home/Orphanage Charity Event – We need help in
coming up with ideas for this charity.
I have raised $10,000/year for this Children’s home through the Harley
Owners Group (HOG), but do not have a clue as to how the R66KC can raise money
for these needy kids. Please send your ideas to r66kc@tmsquared.com Thanks.
We still need
ideas for this Charity Event!
Any thoughts
anyone?
Well you guessed it, I finally came up with an idea. With
all of the events that enjoy having us signal their events with a kite, would
could request donations to our charity on our behalf for our efforts! (yea like
right, what effort... ha ha). So keep this in mind and perhaps we can get more
big event planned, and some real monies for the Children’s Home.
Rocky Point
Kite Festival – Is currently being worked on by our
newest member Rocky Point Howard, along with Mad Dog Billy Dines. Anyone
interested in this event should contact R66KC at: r66kc@tmsquared.com Here is what Howard
has found:
Hi Tom,
Just got back from
Rocky Point, Mexico and I've got something interesting to propose. The week was
terrific for kite flying. I met several flyers from all parts of the country
staying at different campgrounds.
I happen to know some very influential people in RP (Mayor, Congressman
and news media people) and mentioned that an International Kite Festival in
town sometime in the fall would be a terrific event. They all agreed. My
contacts indicated they could probably get several sponsors including Tecate
and local American and Mexican business folk. I also spoke to Pablo (The kite
shop owner) and he was very interested.
So what do you think? If this idea sounds reasonable, how would we go
about putting this together? Let me know your thoughts.
Regards,
Howard
Note: Any ideas for events, please
contact the Gadget Man at: R66KC@TMSquared.com.
Other News
The New Illusion Is Out And Tested
Hola everybody. If you are a Prism fan like myself, I'm sure that
you've been waiting (a long, long time) for the launch of the Illusion
Y2K. It's happened. The first batch of approximately 70 kites shot out
from retailers on November 20. The new Illusion was reported to be a
quantum leap forward in sport kites. On November 22, number 7 of 34
(Mylar version) landed at my office. Needless to say, work was cut short
as I zipped out to go fly it. Would it be worth the almost 9 months of
waiting? The wind was good enough to scamper over to the park near my
home and set up the new baby. Assembly was quick and for those of you who
don't like Prism's switch to the rubber O-rings for sail tension will be
delighted to hear that the illusion Y2K has the old style tension setup.
The kite looks very different. The quality of workmanship was typical
Prism fare (excellent). The Illusion Y2K reportedly takes about twice as
long to make as other Prism kites. That explains the very short
supply. Dan at GWTW ordered 40. He got 6. I managed to get
one of those. I set the kite up for low wind and then strung out the
lines. The new bridle looks freaky, but works well. The kite tracks
like it was on rails. Tricks just sorta happen. I tried to axel the
kite and I was rewarded with a passable double axel. Once the kite
started to spin, it just kept on turning around. (and around...) I love
this thing. It seems to make everything easier and is a blast to
fly. The wind and daylight soon failed me. I packed up shop and
went home to dream of turkey and big kites.
Review:
Kite:
Prism Illusion Y2K (almost Y2K+1)
Hype factor: This thing has been
hyped to the point of obscenity.
Wait factor: This
thing was announced in early February. Mark took his sweet time.
Cost:
$310 from Dan at GWTW. Includes the
Spoilerz and 2 day air shipping.
Wind needed: 3mph to play. Prism says 2mph.
Max wind: Prism says 25
with the spoilerz (check the website)
Fun factor: I love this
thing. More fun than any other new kite I've had since the
first kite I bought almost 2 years ago.
Quality: It's
Prism and signed by the person who put it together. Awesome.
Overall: No wonder Dan is selling old Illusions at
$160. The old Illusion was a good kite, but the new one blows it out
of the water. All my other 2 line, rigid frame kites just became wall
art. Awesome wing. Makes amateurs look good and pros
become Gods. The only fault of the Illusion Y2K is that it's
gonna be scarce. With only 70 a month coming out of the factory at Prism,
you are not going to see one of these in every kite bag for a long time.
That is going to be the production level for the foreseeable future.
All of Dan's November allotment is gone and December's is spoke for
also. I will be ordering the custom SUL version that is on the website as
soon as its available. Those of you who know me, know how I spout off
about the zero-wind abilities of the ProWren. If the SUL is as
good in zero wind as the one in my bag is in 3 mph, I might just have
to shelve my ProWren. The regular one is that good folks. Get
on a preorder list somewhere ASAP. Get one.
As always, what's in my bag is available for flying at club flys.
(Tho it probably won't be in the bag if I've got any wind.)
Al-Habib, The Tent Maker
New Event Idea For Phoenix Next Year
Submitted By: Spectra Mike
Over the weekend I spent a couple days attending the Simply Citrus Festival
put on by the City Of Mesa and local sponsors. A part of the festival included
Hohokham Field. And could most likely include the Fitch Field (Cubs complex
that has four ball fields).
I am Currently working at these places. But it just begs for some kind of
Kite involvement. I am trying to find out who to contact with the city to get
us into this. I also am gonna run the idea down to PLAY IT BY AIR. They could
sell kites as well. There was plenty of other stuff being sold there, so why
not kites?
I think displaying, flying and promoting kites would be a great
opportunity at the festival next year.
Stop me if I shouldn't pursue this. But I think it is a good idea. There
is ample room for it too. Next time your down here and we fly Riverview I will
drive you to the areas for a look see.
The event had lots of great music, food, rides and I had a great time just peop