Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: August 31, 1998
Article Type: Journal

After 10 storied years, the international kite retreat at Junction, Texas, has become instant kite legend. Sophisticated, varied kite workshops conducted in a quite rustic setting, the annual retreat is now history. Perfectionist organizers Betty Street and Bill Lockhart, faced with mandatory change of an almost perfect format, decided to end the gatherings at their peak. Altogether, it has been a golden decade for kiting, in the opinion of many. As it evolved, Junction was often viewed as a sort of utopian global kite community; at the least, it was surely the blueprint for one.

Junction regulars, and there were dozens, were predictably disconsolate. Robert Trepanier of Montreal summed up in two words: "I’m sad." "There’ll never ben anything quite like this retreat again, " commented Bonnie Wright of Clayton, California.

Praise for Street and Lockhart was another refrain. Her genius as an organizer, his sweetness as self-proclaimed greeter and trouble-shooter were noted.