Platte County Parks & Recreation will host its Inaugural Gigantic Kite Festival 2025 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Platte Ridge Park on Saturday, July 26. The event is free.
Nodaway Bank is providing 125 kites for the event, which will be first-come, first-serve. Attendees can bring their own kites and Great American Kites will have some for sale.
“Parks Superintendent, Pat Clark mentioned we should have a kite day for kids,” Jackie Halloran, who is with the Parks Program at Platte County Parks, said. “Shortly after he mentioned that, I met Sean Beaver with Great American Kites at Smithville Lake, because he kiteboards and had a few of the gigantic kites flying out there. I had a light-bulb moment and did some research on the other nationwide festivals that Sean puts on and decided on the Gigantic Kite Festival, combining the go-fly-a kite and kite festival.”
Food vendors at the event will include: Chops BBQ, The Taste of Potosi (Tacos), Twisted Taters, Kona Ice, Hayden’s Sweets (popcorn and cotton candy), and Sunglo (lemonade). There will also be a free water station, and attendees are invited to bring refillable water bottles.
Great American Kites will host a show from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“These kites are gigantic,” (hence the name) Halloran said. “They will be flown in the Cross Country Course of Platte Ridge Park for the duration of the event. So there is not necessarily a ‘demonstration’. It is a show. Once they are in the air, they will stay flying. There are all kinds of characters: whales, Clifford the Big Red Dog, pirates, unicorns, stingrays, octopus, cats, zebras. Come out to see them all and more.”
Attendees are encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs, along with sunscreen and refillable water bottles.
Once the gigantic kites are set, they will remain flying for the duration of the festival in the Cross County Field.
There are three fields at the location. The kid’s personal, flyable kites will converge on the football fields. Vendors will be set up on the trail around Football Field 1, and attendees can use Football fields 1 and 2 to fly kites.
In addition to the gigantic kites, there will be a 30-foot climbing wall being brought to the event by Jumping Jacks Events. There will also be interactive crafts and vendors, balloon animals, bubbles by Elemental Performance, Chalk the Walk, and more.
The location for the event is located right off I-29, Exit 20.