Illinois Kite Enthusiasts
From Illinois Kite Enthusiasts
The Illinois Kite Enthusiasts, or IKE, is a social kite club based generally in northern Illinois, but inclusive of anyone interested in kites by way of the Internet.
Anyone and everyone are welcome to join, no matter what state you call home. All you have to do is register at the forum, and you're part of the IKE family. There are no fees and no dues.
IKE members are passionate about their favorite hobby, and more than willing to spread the love.
Contents |
Origins
IKE was formed rather spontaneously by a small group of fliers attending a late season festival. There are several accounts of the humble beginnings.
From Mike
I've been involved in a few kite festivals here in Champaign and tried to get some folks interested in a club several years ago without much success. They weren't die-hard enough fliers I guess.
One year I organized a Quad Festival of various quad fliers I met at different festivals which was quite fun. Denny was there for that one, so he's been here since before the club started.
A couple years ago I met Ken [Frodos] at Grand Haven and told him I was thinking about doing another quad party but another summer went by and I didn't actually get around to it. The next year at Grand Haven, Ken didn't forget and bugged me to get my act together. It was his enthusiasm that got the ball rolling. So as I went to festivals in Illinois, WI, MI, OH, and CA, I collected email addresses and sent out bulk emails and got another little quad party going. A one day gathering of quad-fliers. Steve has some photos of it on his webpage.
The wind was almost non-existent so many of the local fliers didn't show up (the same guys who weren't interested in a club before), but the fliers who did show were a great and dedicated bunch.
Then Chris and I exchanged a few emails and it was his enthusiasm that got the club idea going again. I sent out bulk emails on short notice to get as many fliers as I could to a festival in Naperville, IL and that's were I met Chris. [Babbman]
His enthusiasm and web expertise moved us from a lousy Google forum to the fantastic web presence we have now.
From Babbman
Through the winter of 2005, I listened to my daughter Elie singing 'Let's Go Fly A Kite' from Mary Poppins... come spring, she bugged me every day to get her a kite. So I did... And because she had one, I had to get one. That's it in a nut shell. From that moment in time, life seems blurred in a frenzy of flying things and wind and Kite web sites and stuff...
When I went to get my kite, I got a delta from the local hobby shop and got the strangest look from the sales guy. He said in hushed tones... "you know this is a stunt kite and has 2 lines, right?". In all honesty, I had no idea and no clue. I told him that was find and he warned me that most people bring them back when they find out there are 2 lines...
Well, I took the family out, put Elie's kite up for her and her and my wife sat there oggling her SLI. In the mean time, I set up my Pioneer Vision, pulled the handles and quite honestly, my head exploded at the concept that I had a kite I could control. The next day, I couldn't wait to go out again, packed up the family and repeated the day before. Uh, unfortunately though, there was no wind that day and at some point, I remember my wife saying "Did you FALL!?!?" as I tripped over my feet in the frenzy to put up that kite.
At that point, I was obviously hooked and started looking around the web for more information. I found a very friendly kite dealer (Kent) in Vegas and bought an Acrobatx and a parafoil for Elie. Kent also put the bug in my ear for a Rev... Hey, he said, if you want something REALLY cool, get a Revolution. So I did and from that point on (and 15 kites later) I am obsessed...
I spent the summer flying and frustrated with the wind but somehow, I figured out how to do the basics. I asked Dave at Chicago Kite if there were any kite clubs in the area and he said there used to be... but not really anything now...
At the end of September, Chris R. e-mailed me and told me about the Quad Festival Google group that had been setup. I immediately jumped on the board. I had just missed the Dekalb festival but was invited to the Naperville Festival in October. It's really a lot more fun flying with others than by myself... and I had more than a great time meeting everyone and flying with them...
As we were all standing there around 1 or 2 pm, attempting to team fly, Mike brought up the idea of a Kite club and within a few mins, IKE was born.
Since then, I have been flying as much as my schedule permits and have thrown myself full force into working with Mike, Chris and Ken in getting us on the web. This has been a very rewarding experience and for anyone interested, the entire club has been designed and developed on the Internet, pretty much right in these forums. The internet is an amazing tool and the ability to communicate in real time is incredible.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Founding Members
Mike, Chris R., Chris B.,Ken, Denny, Steve, Rose
Membership
IKE grew from its original core group in October 2006 to 36 registered members by the end of the year.
At the end of 2007, IKE had 132 registered members.
Festivals
180 GO!
180GO! is an exciting 6 person team made up of IKE members flying Revolution quad line kites.
Sponsored by Revolution and Chicago Kite
