Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: February 28, 2002
Article Type: Journal

Eleven years after opening its doors to the public, the World Kite Museum in Long Beach, Washington, is alive and flourishing. It’s also ambitious. With more than 90 percent of its collection of 1,400 kites in storage because of severely limited exhibition space, the institution is seeking to expand in a major way.

Proposed is a new building on a nearby choice piece of state parks real estate between the town and the famous beach with its northwest wind that never quits and never an evil-looking tree in sight. The 27-mile beach, as wide as a football field, is considered one of the best places to fly kites on the North American continent.

Having signed an agreement last year with the state to build on a six-acre park site, the museum is now raising funds for a projected structure that will increase its space tenfold. The site is rolling sand dunes linking town directly to beach along Bolstad Road, perhaps the most used access road to a beach in the state. This is the road used for the annual Long Beach kite fly which draws up to 100,000 people for a week during August. Motel reservations typically have to be made a year in advance.

PDF Link: Journal Issue