If you've taken part in an organized kite fly in Chattanooga in the past couple of decades, odds are you have Chuck Jones to thank.
Jones founded the Scenic City Kite Club in the 1990s and started what amounts to a kite consulting business, River City Kites, around the same time, though he has more time to devote to the business now that he has retired from teaching.
Others aloft
If you were at the Tennessee Riverpark in March, you may have seen members of the Chattanooga Indian Festival Association with kites in the air. Spokesman Mike Patel says CIFA events are organized to educate the local community and the next generation of Indian/American children about Indian culture.Patel says CIFA has organized kite festivals for the last two years in Chattanooga, similar to others held across the Southeast that are based on the International Kite Festival (Uttarayan), one of the biggest festivals celebrated in the Indian state of Gujarat. The festival of Uttarayan marks the day when winter begins to turn to summer, according to the Indian calendar, and the festival symbolizes the awakening of the gods from their deep sleep. Many cities in Gujarat organize kite competitions among their citizens. In some regions of India, Uttarayan is such a huge celebration that it has become a public holiday.The festival is traditionally held on Jan. 14, says Patel. “However, we organize around weekends and weather conditions.”The past two kite festivals have drawn about 800 participants from a 100-mile radius, he says.CIFA events are organized by 40 volunteers, he says, mostly small-business owners who help out physically and financially.— Lisa Denton
There's no brick-and-mortar store, but River City Kites keeps Jones busy, mostly with workshops in which he teaches groups how to make and fly kites. He also sells and rents his lofty creations.
"I go to schools or I'll go to church groups or retirement centers and do kite workshops where they make kites and then go out and fly them," he says. "It's been a lot of fun."
As much as kids like kites - and they really, really do - Jones says he has especially enjoyed his time in retirement centers. Even residents with limited mobility can take an active part, making and learning about kites, then being handed a string to keep one flying once it's aloft. And kites can energize patients with dementia, who often are better at remembering long-ago events from childhood. "Their kite memories are pretty good," Jones says.
In its early days, the Scenic City Kite Club was active at the Tennessee Riverpark, but eventually the growth of trees on the property affected the success of the outings, Jones says. Trees weren't necessarily in the way, he says. There are still wide-open spaces along the riverfront, but the number of trees and their ever increasing height affect the kites' upward trajectory, according to Jones.
"It got to the point where there were too many trees," he says. "It's hard to have a kite fly when trees are blocking all the wind."
But Jones shows by example that not a lot of yardage is necessary for kite-flying. On a recent Sunday, he set up at the Chattanooga Green near the Tennessee Aquarium and sent multiple kites skyward.
"I put up a really large kite, 40 square meters," he says.
For a frame of reference, that's bigger than a school bus.
"That attracted a lot of people," he says, "and I had two or three others up at the same time."
These days, Jones stakes out kite-flying space at the Sculpture Fields at Montague Park. Last year, he organized the park's first Sculpture in the Sky, which brought in kite masters from around the country and their colorful, colossal collection of kites. The second annual event returns to the 33-acre site on Nov. 3.
Jones says many people associate March winds with kite-flying, but too much gustiness can be as problematic as hot, dead air in the throes of summer.
"Spring is a good time to fly kites," he says, "but people are usually going out when it's too windy. Fall tends to have smoother winds. They're brought in by cold fronts [which have] denser air, and that makes for better flying positions."
But Jones, 59, who has been honing his interest in kites since middle school, says he doesn't really need wind to fly a kite.
"I've got kites that will fly inside with zero wind just by walking backwards."
Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.
Bol kites fly from anchors during last year's Sculptures in the Sky kite festival at the Sculpture Fields at Montague Park. Kite fliers from across the country set up elaborate kites for the event.