___I received a note from the Chinook Observer giving their permission to post the article & photo they published in January 1984.
Documentation of the World's Largest Kite (click image for readable text)

___ I have a number of comments on the article & incident.
___One error in the article is the dimensions given as 115 x 14; it should read 115 x 124 feet. Late in the article they give the correct square footage of 14,260 square feet.
___Guiness never recognized the record & the kite was destroyed in an arson fire at the community college where it was built by Harry Osborne & his students

. The team attempted to fly it several times during the Wahington Interntional Kite Festival (only its 2nd year!), but no favorable conditions prevailed. The actual flight took place after the festival ended, & few saw it. I did see the kite that day, but left before the flight & accident. They tethered the main hawser to a drump truck loaded with wet sand, & it was one of the dozens of intermediate lines that snagged Steve's foot & hauled him up over 100 feet; the wind slacked, the kite luffed, & Eric fell. In the ensuing uproar, the duration of the flight fell from attention.
___Because the festival is a family oriented business, the story of a kite death doesn't fit the image & so has languished. A toast to Steve, Harry, & all who flew the Worlds Largest Kite.
