Flying kites on the beach can bring a sense of wonderment in looking up and seeing your handmade craft sway with the gusty seaside winds.

Susie and Bill Doan are Ohio natives and kite aficionados who during visits to the South Padre Island became smitten with the beach. In their late 40s, the couple moved to the Island and turned a hobby into a business. B&S Kites opened in 1998. It’s still open over 25 years later on Padre Boulevard in giving insights on how to navigate the gusty Island winds.

“We bought a kite and had no idea what we were doing to stake a kite on the beach,” said Amy Turek in an online review of B&S Kites. “The owner was really helpful in telling us how to do it and helped us get the right spike.”

“It all started with a love to fly kites on the Island,” said Susie Doan of moving from the Midwest to South Texas. 

From there, in getting to know the community and their customers, an idea developed over the years that would promote beach-side kite flying at South Padre.

An Idea Takes Flight

“We started thinking about making a festival out here and seeing how many people would come out,” Doan said.

Many did for the first event the Doans organized and in the years that followed. An outdoor kite festival became an Island staple for over 15 years. It became an event enjoyed by all ages and groups, including Winter Texans. Eventually, the Doans moved on to another idea in keeping the love of kites going in a festival kind of way.

“We started outdoors and then thought, how about an indoor kite show?” 

Create Their Own Wind

Susie Doan described the first indoor shows, which were in Port Isabel, as successful ones that would outgrow the venue.

The SPI Indoor Kite Festival would make its way to the Island and to the larger confines of the South Padre Island Convention Center. It is where this year’s edition will take place – on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4 – with show times going from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Indoor kite flying is not for novices and the performers coming to the Island for this year’s shows are in Dunn’s words, “the best of the best.”

“We are bringing people from all over the country to the festival,” she said. 

The outdoor festivals were more free-flowing and larger in the number of participants. An indoor event is much more selective and features performers who are skilled at their craft. Choreographed dance routines set to lively musical selections capture the attention of onlookers as the performers maneuver their kites.

“Not everyone has the skill to create their own wind,” Doan said of the indoor kite fliers. “With their movements, they create wind as they swish their kites in the air.”

Big Shows

Some of the featured performers at the festival will include national champion John Barresi and fan favorite Paul LaMasters, who is from Germantown, Md. 

This year’s event will feature two different themes. The Feb. 3 event is titled, “A Tribute to the Big Screen,” with music from some classic movies. On Feb. 4, performances will be set to “Texas Skies & Island Vibes” music with a Hispanic flair, Doan said. There will be a special effects finale with the lights going off at the convention center, and the kites and performers being highlighted for a spectacular conclusion to the two-day festival.

Advance tickets are required for attending the festival. Tickets are $15 per person and $25 for both nights. Call B&S Kites for reservations at 956-761-1248. Doan is grateful to the city of South Padre Island for its support of the event in making it a popular Winter Texan-oriented festival.

“It has grown more than we anticipated,” she said of the indoor shows. “We are pleasantly surprised by the reception.”