BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - HUNDREDS of people from near and far yesterday (Apr. 14) flocked Black Rocks in Belle Vue, with their multicoloured kites of different shapes and sizes, to celebrate a Good Friday activity with Prime Minister Dr. Hon. Timothy Harris and his constituents.
The event, Dr. Harris’ Annual Kite Flying Competition, has grown significantly in popularity as many people had travelled from as far as sister isle Nevis to participate in the festivity, which in previous years had only attracted participants from within Constituencies Seven and Six and a few from other areas.
The Prime Minister told SKNVibes that he was happy with this year’s turnout as they had seen persons from the Sandy Point area joining them, including his Deputy Hon. Shawn Richards and family.
The event is used as a platform to bring unity and cohesion among persons from the various communities in St. Kitts and Nevis, noted Dr. Harris.
“The crowd is about 95% young people and this is what we had hoped to do to bring back the tradition of Good Friday kite flying to the rural parts of St. Kitts and Nevis. Kite flying is one of those sports/past times which can help to bring young people together and help to learn to live together, and learn to work and do things together.”
He added that it was part of their “critical outreach to bring peace among the various communities by finding fun-loving activities in which people could engage”.
Further, the Prime Minister, who was all smiles, pointed out that the event “certainly is a community-building event, because out of that we are developing Tabernacle”.
A similar sentiment was echoed by Deputy Prime Minister Richards, who told SKNVibes that he considered the event an important one since it brings together many people from various walks of life, age and gender.
“This activity I consider to be a very important one because it reflects part of our culture. Traditionally, here in St. Kitts and Nevis, we associate kite flying with Easter, and over the years we have had less and less persons flying kites. And to have the Prime Minister organize this activity, so as to help to preserve and sustain and maintain that part of our culture, I consider it important.”
Dr. Harris informed that as part of getting more youths involved in Easter activities, the committee would be looking to run a kite making workshop for children.
Meanwhile, patrons enjoyed a number of activities, including the kite flying competition, dominoes and the lime and spoon competition.
Up to the time of this media house’s presence at the event, the large gathering’s focus was on the center field where competitors were battling for bragging rights in the large kite category.
Three kites were battling for supremacy; one had measured 21 feet in height and 13 feet 9 inches in width, while another was 8 feet, 1 inch in height and 8.5 feet in width.
The third kite was much smaller, measuring 5 feet by 4 feet kite. However, all three were airborne but, unfortunately, this media house was not present for the announcement of the winner.
