Yes Austinites (and kiting guests from around the world), the Zilker Kite Festival is almost here! This year will be number 80. That’s 80 consecutive years that the festival has been happening–the longest running kite festival in the United States. In 2007, nearly 30,000 people showed up to enjoy the warming weather and to FLY KITES!

World Wind Kites is going to be there selling kites to the public, but nobody is obligated to buy anything. Zilker Kite Fest is free to the public and you are encouraged to bring your own kites–especially if they’re home made. Feeling really adventurous? Enter your kite in the contest. You never know… You just might win some bragging rights.

If you want more information, please check out the official Zilker Kites Festival homepage here. It’s filled with everything you could want to know.

Remember, Zilker Park Kite Festival is on Sunday, March 2nd. Mark your calendars now!

(scoot, scoot. You haven’t marked the calendar yet. Do it before you forget…)

If you need your package by Christmas, we now recommend using UPS Next Day Delivery. Orders placed by 2:30PM CST today should arrive with no problems. UPS will be delivering packages on Christmas Eve but if you choose Next Day Delivery you will get a cushion in case anything goes wrong.

If you place your order tomorrow, Friday, the only way to get your kites by Christmas Eve is to use UPS Next Day Service. This should deliver any packages on Christmas Eve.

One final note. Although UPS will be delivering packages on Christmas Eve, they will not be picking up packages as part of their normal daily schedule. Because of this, any orders placed after Friday afternoon will not be picked up until at least the day after Christmas, Wednesday afternoon.

As always, if there’s is anything we missed, please give us a call.

Hi Everyone,
Wow, these past two weeks have gone by in a flash!

Today is Wednesday, the 19th. If you are ordering kites today and wish to receive them by Christmas, we highly recommend that you choose second day delivery and order by 2:30CST (this will give us time to pack the box before UPS’s daily pick up arrives). This means they should arrive on Friday but you will still get a “cushion” for delivery on Monday, Christmas Eve if anything in the chain of delivery goes wrong. After 2:30PM, please use next day delivery or give us a call to see what other options might be available.

If you are not in a big rush, then we still encourage you to take advantage of our free ground shipping for orders over $35. Please see the UPS map below for an estimate of how long it will take to receive your kites.

A few people/corporations have been fervently working on technology like this for the last decade, or so. Reuters just published a nice article focusing on one company, Beluga, and the recent progress that has been made.

If you’re interested in kites or wind power, saving fuel, or just technology in general it’s an interesting read. It definitely gives us an even greater appreciation for the amount of power that is in the wind. Article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL15481005.

It’s the last day for many to take advantage of our standard ground shipping. UPS picks up daily from us–usually around 4:30 CST.

Please see the following map for a general idea of how long your package should take to arrive. This is for domestic orders. Most international orders will not arrive by Christmas if ordered today.

UPS will be delivering packages on Dec. 24, but they will not be picking up packages.

Thank you for choosing World Wind Kites. We do appreciate everyone of our customers! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Currently, we are on schedule for Christmas deliveries. This means that almost all orders placed will be shipped on the same or next business day. Please see our Nov. 28th post below for more details. We will be updating this Latest News page again soon with more precise deadlines.

One thing we must stress: Please provide accurate contact information and shipping information. Missing or transposed digits from a telephone number or zip code can wreak havoc on an order.

Are there a questions we’ve left unanswered? Please give us a call and we’ll be happy to help you out.

Well, even as a retail store, we’ll be the first to admit that we hate bringing up Christmas shopping before December–but hey, we did wait until after Thanksgiving. Nevertheless, we have had a number of customers ask about this so we know there are many more wondering the same thing. So… Here goes:

Currently, most orders will be sent out either on the same business day or the following business day after they are placed. In the rare case that something can’t be shipped out quickly we will contact you and let you know the status. Please (pretty please) provide real phone numbers and email addresses. Your information will not be used outside of World Wind Kites.

As December 25th approaches, the shipping window quickly closes. This year, because Christmas day is on a Tuesday, Friday the 21st is the absolute last possible day that kites can be ordered and still arrive by Christmas. Having said that, we can’t recommend that anyone wait that long.

We’ll keep this news page updated as needed so you’ll always have the latest shipping guidelines. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Another one of our favorites (it’s so difficult to choose!), Opie The Octopus is back in stock. Opie’s a great flyer, has a light pull and no assembly. Just tie the string to the kite and fly!
Note that we only have Pink, Orange, and Tie Dyed Opies right now. We are hoping the rest of their family show up soon.

New for World Wind Kites is the tie dyed version:

We really like this kite: super stylish, great flight characteristics, terrific light wind ability, true crowd pleasing abilities. Over the years, we’ve seen a lot manufacturers try to produce a stable canard but they usually don’t work too well. Premier Kites’ Canard is definitely an exception. While you’re on the Canard page, check out the video of it in flight.

Notes:
Steven, if you’re reading this, it’s time to get that Red, White, and Blue Canard train set up!
Thanks to Buffy for providing the modeling.

We keep moving through this color combination. Prism picked some good colors for the newest Quantum.