Local Guide

Drake Smith's cellular tribute to the tribes that assisted Lewis and Clark on their journey is one of the many kites that will participate in a kite-flying event at Amend Park.

The nonsanctioned fun fly, scheduled by the Billings Kite Club, helps celebrate National Kite Month and coincides with similar events being held throughout the country. Organizer Terry Zee Lee said participants will again try to beat the Billings record of having 89 kites in the air at the same time.

Kite builders from around the country will also be visiting Billings, bringing with them pieces of flying art. Stacks, trains, sport kites and single lines are all welcome at the fun fly.

Smith relates in his own words how he discovered the world of kites and where it’s evolved for him today:

I am a 60ish engineer, working for the government in the Washington, DC area. I remember destroying many Eddy's and box kites when I was a child, and making tissue paper hot air balloons with my dad. That was the extent of my kite flying until Fate and technology intervened more than 25 years ago, when they invented waterproof sun block, and my wife of the time bought me a winged box kite at the beach. Before I went home from vacation, I had discovered braided dacron kite line, Kitelines Magazine, and I had bought another kite at the Kite Loft in Ocean City, MD.

I then went through a phase where I found that most kite stores had broken, or ugly kites in the back, that they would let go for a steep discount, and I began accumulating different kinds of kite types. I would fix them up, or take them apart to see how they were made. I had a mental rule (now broken) not to own a delta and so I have quite a few oddball kites. I eventually started making some kites, and I learned how to basically hem nylon on my wife's Singer. I would make half a dozen box kites, keep one, and give out the rest for Christmas or birthday presents.

One day, I noticed that something called the Maryland Kite Society (MKS) was having a retreat within driving distance, so I signed up to go. This would be the first time I actually met other people with an interest in kites. What a revelation! These were people from my planet! You could touch on aesthetics, aerodynamics, materials science, physics, graphics, sewing, weather, bad jokes, and good puns in a "single conversation" and no one thought it was strange or weird. I also experienced for the first time MKS's basic philosophy of the open sharing of ideas, techniques, and experience that has made kite flying such a wonderful waste of time and money.

The Maryland Kite Society was influential in helping the Smithsonian launch its annual kite festival. It's not a very organized sport, which probably is why it appeals to me. Contestants design and fly kites, and reveal a combative nature—trying to knock rival kites out of the sky.

Kites have led me to places like Rajkot, India where I was welcomed with flowers and anointed, while the Police Academy Orchestra played "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." Since then, instead of just Drake Smith, I have been Drachen Schmitten.

Kites also led me to Montana and my kite-flying soul mate Terry Zee Lee. She had the vision for the Millennium Kite Exhibit that brought kite makers from around the globe together in an expression of art, science and technology. It was the first of several major exhibits that she’s organized to bring the dynamics of kites to public places. As the founding director of SkyWindWorld she has helped expand not only my horizons but those of thousands of others who marvel at the history, present and future of kites. Through her eyes I understand the positive influence they have on our society and its children. We both enjoy bringing “Kites in the Classrooms” to students and teachers and participating in kite workshops and festivals from coast to coast.