FlyNY

This weekend was finally FlyNY. It is a fundraiser I have been working with the past two years. It is a kite design competition and flying day. The idea is to encourage artists and designer to design amazing and beautiful kites which will then be auctioned off with proceeds benefiting the New York chapter of Architecture for Humanity. We never seem to get enough entries and fail to bring in big donations at the auction. Regardless, the kite flying day always seems to be a success.

It is held at Pier I in Manhattan. Lots of people from the community stop by. Kids come and make kites on site and many adults brought their own. It's incredible to live in such a big city that you can find enthusiasts for everything. There were quite a few people who are serious kite flyers. They were right alongside kids who made their kites that day on the pier. We had some great wind!

We were lucky enough to have a local artist, Jason Borbay, complete a piece of the fly day while on site. We are hoping to auction his work off with a portion of the profits to go to AFHny.

Sadly, we lost a kite in the water. It's a risk you take flying kites on a pier. Last year, the Parks Department had "kite rescue" consisting of kayakers who patrolled the water for fallen kites.

A new friend!

All in all it was a good event. The evening before, we held a showcase of the competition kites and conducted a short design discussion with a panel of judges. The fundraising portion of the event could have been more successful, so if you are feeling generous, go the AFHny website to donate and make sure the description reads FlyNY. And start brainstorming your kites ideas for next year!