NOTE TO EDITORS: Go fly a kite!

Media representatives are invited to attend two media opportunities leading up to the St. John's "Wireless Wizard" Kite Festival, being held June 30 and July 1 at Confederation Hill.

Date: June 28
Time: 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. 
Location: Confederation Hill
Access: via Gooseberry Lane

Fighter kite training
This media opportunity centres around the training program for the corporate and student teams taking part in the Japanese Rokkaku (ROK) fighter kite competition June 30 on Confederation Hill. Japanese Rokkaku fighter kites are an exciting component of major kite festivals around the world. At the "Wireless Wizard" Kite Festival, corporate and student teams will fight for Rokkaku supremacy in the sky. Training for this event is being done by some of Canada's premier ROK kite fliers. Students involved in the competition come from throughout the province. Interviews can be arranged with the trainers and team participants.

Tour the world's largest kite
This media opportunity involves the world's largest kite, the "Mega-Ray". This mammoth kite has travelled to kite festivals throughout the world since it was created in 1997. Swimming and undulating like a giant, multi-hued manta ray when it is in the sky, it is a great colourful tour-able cavern when it is inflated on the ground. The kite measures 42 metres across its wingspan and 28 metres in length (68 metres when the tail is added in). Its brilliant body is made of 566 panels of red, mauve, black and yellow nylon. A 15 tonne truck is needed to hold it down when it's flying. 

Both media opportunities are weather dependent. If weather conditions are unfavourable on June 28, the events will be held June 29. A media advisory will be sent the morning of June 28 to confirm whether the events are going ahead on that date. 

The St. John's "Wireless Wizard" Kite Festival is produced by the Special Celebrations Corporation, Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, Kevin Aylward, minister, in collaboration with the Celebrate Canada Committee for Newfoundland and Labrador and the City of St. John's.

Media contact: Mary MacNab, Communications, Special Celebrations Corporation, (709) 729-3813, cell: (709) 685-8102, e-mail: mmacnab@mail.gov.nf.ca

2001 06 20                                                             11:25 a.m.