Having Fun With Kites Is a Breeze

There is a brief moment each time Dan Rubesh sends one of his kites in the air when he knows life will be OK.

Rubesh calls it Zen and the art of kite flying.

Usually he’s alone on a Port Hueneme beach with nothing more than his thoughts and a nylon kite gently swimming aloft in the breeze.

Sunday things were different.

Rubesh stood among hundreds of children, their parents and an armada of flying paper kites at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for the third annual Kite Classic.

“No matter what kind of day I have had, I can fly a kite and it will all go away,” said the 58-year-old Rubesh, a machinist. “Some people watch the tube. Some people smoke a little dope. I fly kites.”

Rubesh definitely had the market cornered on the philosophic side to kite flying Sunday.

Most everyone else was focused on just trying to put their free paper kites in the air. The event was another way to remind Ventura County residents and others that here on a hilltop near Simi Valley with a magnificent view of the region sits a presidential library and museum, said Kirby Hanson, the director of programs for the library’s foundation.

“We sit up here on this hill and people expect nothing but summit meetings,” Hanson said. “We’re a lot more than big ideas. It’s a valuable experience for the whole family.”

The event, which drew more than 1,500 people, was co-sponsored by the library’s foundation and California Oaks State Bank.

Visitors could take their pick from one of the free paper kites handed out or the more exotic ones for sale. On the library’s patio area, barbecue chefs served up steak, hamburgers and hot dogs. Nearby an oldies rock group played an eclectic mix of songs from Pink Floyd, the Moody Blues and others.

Special exhibits were also set up on the library’s sprawling campus. Below the barbecue area, divers from Naval Base Ventura County showed off their gear, including a massive amphibious vehicle called LARK, while members of the Ventura County sheriff’s helicopter unit allowed children to climb aboard their chopper. Meanwhile, a team of pilots flying experimental planes based at Camarillo Airport buzzed by the crowd and through the ravines and valley below the library.

For Oxnard resident John Castorena, who was battling a gust of wind as he tried to keep one of the paper kites airborne for his two granddaughters, fighting through the large crowd was well worth it.

It was a few years removed from his days as a kid making kites from paper, tissue or other handy materials, but he was getting the hang of it.

“When I didn’t have a dime to buy a kite then I would just make my own,” Castorena said. “Today we came by to check out the kites and give my granddaughters a little history.”