Mark your calendars for the upcoming annual event in Callaway that brings families together and fills the sky with color. The Kite Flight happens every Labor Day weekend at Foster Smith Field, four miles southeast of Callaway on Highway 40. This year’s event will be Aug. 30 and 31.

Kindle Rice took on the lead role of organizing the Kite Flight last year, and will be doing that again in 2025. She explained that she has loved the Kite Flight since she was a child and is passionate about continuing the late Connie May’s legacy.

May and her family conceived the idea for a family-friendly kite flying event and hosted the first Callaway Kite Flight on Labor Day weekend in 1990.

An enthusiastic promoter of local tourism and economic development, May touted the Kite Flight as a great way to showcase the community and generate revenue. It worked.

Over the years, hundreds of kite flyers and spectators have converged each Labor Day weekend on Callaway for the iconic event. Once May got it off the ground, the Callaway Chamber of Commerce took up the cause and has continued to spearhead the festivities. It is through her involvement with the Chamber that Rice became the organizer, working with a team of dedicated volunteers.

In the first few years, the Kite Flight was held at the golf course and was later moved to a pasture owned by Foster and LaVonne Smith. Smith Field has been named by USA Today as one of the 10 best places in the nation to fly and kite, and Callaway has been designated as the Kite Flight Capital of Nebraska by the state Legislature.

Last year saw the addition of a few new activities to the Kite Flight, and Rice confirms that special attractions will be part of this year’s event as well. We will share all of those details in a futue issue of the Courier. .