Description:
The Village of Palmyra presents
Taking Flight Over Palmyra
Second Annual Kite and Balloon Festival
Join the Village of Palmyra and celebrate the First Annual Kite and
Balloon Festival. Fun for all ages! Enjoy kites, hot air balloons and remote
control airplanes. Located at the Wayne County Fairgrounds 250 West
Jackson Street, Palmyra on Saturday, June 11th, 2011 from 11:00 to 4:00.
Admission is free.
Fly your kite or learn to build a kite. Watch demonstrations of acrobatic and
large kites. There will be two hot air balloons for tethered flights ($5 for
kids, $10 for adults) scenic flights around Wayne County, weather
permitting will be available from 4 PM until dusk (cost $200 per person).
Here is one little known fact about kiting. Over a century and a half
ago, the mighty Niagara Falls, once known only to the local Native
Americans, was being transformed. A bridge spanning the turbulent gorge
was envisioned. The combined commission of the U.S. and Canada knew
very little about bridge building. They did not even know if spanning a
gorge 800 feet wide and 200 feet deep was practical.
To stretch a line or wire across the gorge, local ironworker, Theodore G. Hulett suggested offering a cash prize to the first boy who could fly his kite to the opposite bank. The first to succeed in spanning the gorge with his kite, named the ‘Union’, was fifteen-year-old American, Homan Walsh. Using this technique, the engineers built two temporary, fifty-foot wooden towers facing each other across the gorge. There was 1,200-foot of cable that passed over and was anchored to the towers using an iron basket to bring materials back and forth between the two towers.
The service bridge was completed in July 1848. The bridge that was built with the aid of a kite was officially opened to the public in August 1, 1848.
All because of a kite!
Food,
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