Kites flew high at a festival on Clover Point Saturday as local residents used the popular event to protest a possible sewage treatment plant at that location.
Brian Lepine, 1314 Dallas Rd., said local opposition to a treatment plant is not just about neighbours. Pointing to the hundreds of people attending the Victoria International Kite Festival, he said, “This is a gathering place where you have community events like this.”
Neighbour John Bidgood added, “It is everybody’s front yard.”
As well as the financial implications of building a plant at Clover Point, Bidgood said there’s a health cost as well because residents are experiencing stress and losing sleep. “Most of us are holding that part in. Most of us are not talking about that.”
Judy Loukras, another nearby resident, said she feels as though the Clover Point option “has just been thrust upon us with no forethought.”
The group is hosting an information tent at the festival, which continues Sunday until 5 p.m.
There’s a dazzling display of colourful kites and demonstrations by expert fliers. Kites danced in the air as music played. One kite mimicked a bird’s wings flapping. Others hovered in a cluster in the sky.
Marlise Dupuis, two years old, arrived at the festival with parents Carly and Curtis, who drove from Langford for the event.
Mother Carly said that Marlise loves watching anything in the sky and enjoyed running around with a kite. “She loved it.”
The theme of the event is Celebrating Diversity in Our Community. It includes performances by two Bollywood dance groups, an international food village, buskers, and a public kite flying area.
Youngsters worked at tables to create their own kites. About 1,000 children's kite-making kits were provided by the B.C. Kite Association and helpers are on hand.
Calm weather Saturday morning was frustrating Ladner’s Lance Kryger’s efforts to get his massive rainbow coloured kite up in the air. It is 30 feet in diameter and whirls and bounces in the air.
In Victoria to demonstrate the $1,000 kite, Kryger took up kite flying a couple of years ago. “I love the colours. I love the different styles, different shapes.”
