{"id":235104,"date":"2026-04-04T16:29:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/235104\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T16:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:29:07","slug":"austins-history-making-abc-kite-fest-rings-in-98th-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/235104\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin’s history-making ABC Kite Fest rings in 98th year"},"content":{"rendered":"

For nearly 100 years,\u00a0springtime in Austin<\/a> has signified dazzling arrays of kites fluttering through the sky, a kaleidoscopic vision as thousands take flight. On Saturday, April 11, the ABC Kite Fest<\/a> will celebrate its 98th year operating in Austin, solidifying its history as the longest-running kite festival in the United States.<\/p>\n

What began in 1929 as a means of entertaining children has turned into a cornerstone Austin event, one that draws thousands of attendees across generations. The kite festival was the brainchild of the Exchange Club of Austin, a nonprofit organization that first formed back in 1924. Ed St. John, a member of the Exchange Club, wanted to create an event that fostered creativity among the youngest Austinites, thereby hosting the first kite tournament at Lamar Park (now the Volma Overton Sr. Shores at Town Lake Metro Park).<\/p>\n

In tandem with Texas’ 150th anniversary, Zilker Park opened to the public back in 1936. Its first event? The kite festival. Ninety years after that milestone moment, Dorsey and Bunnie Twidwell \u2014 president and board member of the Exchange Club of Austin and co-chairpersons of the kite fest \u2014 said much has changed in Austin, and yet the enduring spirit of the festivities continue.<\/p>\n

Bunnie is no stranger to the kite contest; she won a ribbon in the tournament when she was 8 years old, but didn’t return to the world of kite-making until the late 1980s, after the two got married.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been flying and making kites for a long time,” Bunnie told MySA with a smile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Twidwells joined the Exchange Club as consultants for the festival before quickly enveloping themselves with the service organization. Once they were members, they joined the kite festival volunteer committee in 1998, pivoting from kite flyers to event producers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, the free festival is a labor of love, with ABC Home and\u00a0Commercial Services stepping in as title sponsor of the festival back in 2017 to save the annual tradition from rising operational costs. In a way to extend the festival’s impacts beyond day-of enjoyment, the Exchange Club of Austin donates proceeds raised from kites sold at the event\u00a0to key community initiatives, like LifeWorks<\/a>, Family Eldercare<\/a> and the Salvation Army.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Twidwells have witnessed a slew of milestones during past year’s festivities, from birthday celebrations to engagements and even whispers of weddings alike. While the festival has grown in magnitude and visitor size over the years, in tandem with Austin’s own growth, it continues to delight and draw in new generations of Texans and Texas transplants who yearn for a simple tradition: A day at the park with the people you love.<\/p>\n

“It is just totally fascinating, flabbergasting and amazing to us how folks still respond to this event,” Bunnie said, with Dorsey adding: “We have many families who started coming there to Zilker as a child, and now thye’re bringing their great-grandchildren to the event…it’s something about being in the park with your family, being active and looking up at the sky.”<\/p>\n

Find it: April 11 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Zilker Park, 2100 Barton Springs Road, Austin, TX 78704<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For nearly 100 years,\u00a0springtime in Austin has signified dazzling arrays of kites fluttering through the sky, a kaleidoscopic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,2108,2107,86458,88070,820],"class_list":{"0":"post-235104","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-mysaaustin","12":"tag-mysaentertainment","13":"tag-mysahistory","14":"tag-mysaparks","15":"tag-mysastaff"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}