“On a good day, it was a great and fabulous event because it got a lot of people out of the house,” said Barb Wilson, West Chester Twp. spokeswoman. “It was an event that if you had bad weather, it was very challenging.”
In addition to WGUC’s sponsorship and promotion, its primary financial sponsor was the Otto M. Budig Family Foundation. Other event co-sponsors included MetroParks, the PIGS Aloft kite flying club and West Chester Twp.
The event ended in 2012 after the Budig foundation ended its financial sponsorship and when WGUC no longer organized and promoted the event, said Kelly Barkley, MetroParks’ senior manager of community relations.
After the funding from the Budig Foundation ended and WGUC ended its involvement, the event was revived in a smaller manner by MetroParks as people continued to call the county park district who were interested in seeing similar events, Barkley said.
In 2015, MetroParks through its Parks Connection Group, sponsored the Kites-N-MPX event with co-sponsors PIGS Aloft Kite Club and City Barbeque to bring a family-friendly kite event back to the park, she said.
“The event was well received and while not near the size of previous events was deemed a success. As a result, MetroParks planned to offer the special event again in 2016.”
While the 2016 event was planned for April 9, Barkley said organizational challenges surfaced as the final planning began taking shape.
During the planning process, she said MetroParks determined that the space initially designated for the event needed to be altered to deliver this experience and that an alternate location was needed to accommodate all of the activities scheduled that included a large sports tournament as well as ensuring that other areas of the 435-acre park could be accessed, such as the dog park, lake, lodge and playground.
“As more and more people and groups become aware of the amenities of Voice of America MetroPark, the park district has had to be even more cognizant of our responsibility to provide not only area access, but a safe and pleasant experience for those attending events,” Barkley said.
She said other options were explored, including alternate dates, other areas at VOA and other MetroPark locations across the county.
“MetroParks is disappointed none of the backup locations or times could be agreed upon with the co-sponsor; however, the hope would be that another similar event could ultimately be organized in the future,” Barkley said.
Barkley said MetroParks would welcome the opportunity to sponsor another kite event in the future.
“The kite events are very enjoyable family fun events,” she said.
As for the economic impact of the kite festival going on what is hoped to be a short hiatus, officials at the Butler County Visitors Bureau could not say if not having the festival would have a positive or negative impact because they had no information on the number of out of town travellers attended the event.
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