BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Tourism in association with Young Indians (YI) for the first time organised a kite flying festival at Marine Drive Eco Retreat in Konark on Makar Sankranti. The two-day Uttarayana Kite Fest was inaugurated on Tuesday.
Participants including professionals from Mumbai flew different types of designer and LED kites while tourists, locals and in-house guests too participated. A kite shop has been set up from where people can purchase. Focus is to make the event eco-friendly as cotton threads are being used by participants instead of Chinese or glass manja, which is harmful for birds.
The festival has been organised to spread awareness on Jagannath culture of Uttarayana, revive dying culture of kite flying and promote Odisha’s pristine beaches as a fun destination among people outside the State.
"A 10-member team of expert kite flyers from Mumbai-FLY 360 are here. They put up a designer kite and LED kite show. On Wednesday, they will showcase the evolution of kite flying and also hold modern kite making workshops on Wednesday," said Pratyush Kumar Bisoyi, a YI representative.
The workshop is open for all who are interested to make their own kites in Do-It-Yourself (DIY) format.
Tourism Secretary Vishal Kumar Dev said Makar Sankranti is synonymous with kite flying as people in several parts of the State fly kites to celebrate the festival.
"When YI comes with the idea of Uttarayana Kite Fest, it sounded quite interesting and we decided to go ahead with it. It can be scaled up to promote tourism," he added.