St. Annes international kite festival

19/04/2024

We did it! Thankyou and well done to everyone, this for you all! X

19/04/2024

We’re here at the tower ballroom at the LBE Coastal radio local business awards! Honoured and humbled to have been Nominated for the best event award Fingers crossed 🤞

28/03/2024

Word on the street is that it is very close with only a few days of voting to go!

09/03/2024

We might need to buy a tie!

12/02/2024

we have been short listed! any votes would be much appreciated. thankyou.

15/01/2024

Please vote,like and share! For the best free event this side of Blackpool!

14/12/2023

Oyez Oyez Oyez! Merry Christmas Everyone!
We come sharing great news, and hope you can share too!
St Anne's International Kite Festival Returns for 2024 on the 13th, 14th and 15th September!
This three-day event is a partnership between Fylde Council and SmileFactor10, and will see tens of thousands of visitors from all over the United Kingdom as well as kite fliers from across the globe coming together to fill the skies with colour over the course of the weekend. please share! share! share! pic courtesy of Gregg Wolstenholme photography

19/09/2023

more pics of the incredible sand art.

12/09/2023

Well, folks, that's the festival all packed away for another year. As we reflect on another hugely successful event for St Annes, we'll also look at where we can make improvements for next year - we will release the dates just as soon as we can.

In the meantime, we're here to say a massive thank you to everyone who made the festival possible.

Firstly, thank you to everyone who visited the festival this year. We believe St Annes beach is the best location in the world to fly a kite. Your attendance, support and feedback allow us to continue with the festival and build year after year.

Thanks to the Civil Aviation Authority and Blackpool Air Traffic Control for granting us permission to fly.

Thank you, Angela Lidstone and her daughter, Natalie. The Pier Cafe is still our biggest financial supporter outside of Fylde Council. Along with their financial support, the Cafe provides 400 sandwiches to feed the kite fliers! You may have noticed our display arena is called the David Lidstone Arena. Angela's late husband, David, was pivotal in getting the kite festival off the ground in the early years. Since his passing in 2017, we continue to honour his contribution to the festival.

Tim Dixon, Chantelle Vickers and all the team at Fylde Council and Discover Fylde for bins, toilets, traffic management and all the jobs you don't see!

St Anne's Town Council.

The Elected Members. Mark Menzies MP, the Mayor of Fylde, Cheryl Little, and St Anne's Town Mayor, Shirley Green, for their support and official opening ceremony.

Security! Andy and the lads are with us every year, keeping everyone safe. Responsible for all manner of jobs, conceivable and inconceivable, they are a delight to work with.

all the First Aiders.

The Fairground, Stefan Cubbins and his team. Plus, new arrival, Derek, and his fabulous Ferris Wheel - a sight to behold on Friday night!!

Stuart at The Beach Huts, thank you for your sponsorship.

Scott for the laser show, all the traders, the hotels and B&Bs that accommodate the kite flyers, St Anne's Cricket Club, Ebublio for the bubble delights, and the Lancaster Bomber pilot for his impromptu double fly-past on Saturday!

Manu the Sand Artist, for his extraordinary work and Greg Wolstenholme for the fabulous sand art photo featured in the Times newspaper, no less!

Last but by no means least, we thank every single kite flier from across the UK, Ireland, and the world. 215 this year, a record number, making us the biggest kite festival in the UK, closing in on Europe and the world!

From the all the Team at SmileFactor10, we thank you! Xx

11/09/2023

A walk through the pier!

11/09/2023

looking at the analytics in the last 7 days we've reached 181,000 on facebook with 91,000 interactions over the weekend, I think we can safely say we saw more than 100,000 people in St Annes on the Sea over the weekend, a massive thankyou to all the public who came and made it the biggest festival ever! we salute you and we promise to try harder next year. please be aware of the fake profile spamming every post, it's easy to spot as they had time to spam every post over the weekend! it's something like "St Annes international kite festival 2023" with a profile pic of a completely different festival in the US Washington state. please enjoy another pic from Gregg!

11/09/2023

we are currently working through all the questions and comments, suffice to say we will thank everyone involved soon for a great weekend, possibly the greatest, but for now look at this! we made The Times! with the help of Festival stalwart local fantastic photographer Gregg Wolstenholme photography and our esteemed guest sand artist Manu.

Thanks to the Times this morning and again to Manu

10/09/2023

Thankyou to everyone who came and made it a fantastic event. See y’all next year!

10/09/2023

Is the St. Annes international kite festival on today? Silly question… we are a hardy bunch, just try stopping us! Kites are already up!

10/09/2023

Well, yesterday was epic, possibly the best attended day we’ve ever had, Thankyou everyone for coming and now we move on to Day 3! Lots of questions coming in about the weather and will we go ahead? Of course the festival goes ahead, we will take every precautions should a thunderstorm present itself but until then it’s full festival program ahead! See you all on the beach! What a picture of the sand art from Manu by Gregg Wolstenholme photography

09/09/2023

Manu sand artist on the beach today.

09/09/2023

07/09/2023

we are nearly there, one more sleep! lookout for our official merch store on the beach where we are selling official fruit of the loom T-shirts for the little ones at just £5 each.
the best flying rainbow deltas at just £10 each and you can get an official kite festival wristband for £1! all the money from this stall goes directly to helping the festival. before we get caught up in the madness we'd like to thank the Pier Cafe for their unwavering support for the last 11 years, Fylde Borough Council and St Annes town council, without the support of these three we simply wouldn't be able to put the festival together so if you can, please thank them. we'll draw the prize winners tonight! ok, deep breath. lets do this!!

05/09/2023

St Annes Beach Huts - Beach Hut Day Rentals

04/09/2023

so who is coming this weekend? friday? saturday? Sunday? or all three! Like and share this post to be in with a chance of winning 1 of 10 lovely rainbow delta kites, The first name out of the hat will also collect a limited edition festival T-Shirt!!
smallprint: There will be no fireworks. In a break from previous years and looking towards a more sustainable future, organisers are working on a sound and light spectacular to replace the traditional fireworks. Sorry folks, no pyrotechnics, but we’re sure you’ll not be disappointed! The dogs and cats of St Annes will certainly sleep easier this year!
but do not fear! it is going to be epic! we have some surprises up our sleeve for Fridays Night Fly, look out for our sand artist Manu and we also have accessaloo on site all weekend.

31/08/2023

make sure you look out for the world renowned sand artist Manu on the beach next week, disproving all those folk that claim it's photoshop or AI, Manu's work has to be seen to be believed!

28/08/2023

St Annes Set to Welcome a Record Number of Kite Flyers in 2023!

The team at SmileFactor10, in partnership with Fylde Council, have officially announced their biggest-ever kite festival in St Annes. The popular seaside town will play host to over 200 kite fliers from the UK and across the globe.
This year, the festival falls on the second weekend in September:
Friday, 8 September, 1.00pm to 10.00pm
Saturday, 9 September, 11.00am to 5.00pm
Sunday, 10 September, 11.00am to 4.00pm

Six arenas will span the beach on either side of St Annes Pier, with more kites than ever before taking to the air for this truly spectacular event. Gigantic creatures will form the backdrop to art banners, mobiles, spinners and zany beach bouncers. Stunning handmade art kites will dance in the breeze, and 2-line and 4-line sport kite flyers will perform incredible choreographed feats of flying in the main arena.

The best of the best homegrown flyers will stand alongside some of the world’s greatest kite makers and flyers, including teams from Ireland, Germany, India, Norway, France and Holland – all guaranteed to display fantastic kites and add their unique style to the festival. You can join in too! Bring or buy a kite to fly on the beach.

There will be more to see and more time to see it this year! By extending the festival into Friday afternoon, organisers hope to make the event even more accessible to visitors, particularly those who work weekends or wish to visit at a quieter time. Join SmileFactor10 and friends on the beach from lunchtime onwards as the kite festival comes together and excitement builds ahead of the night fly.

Sunset will signal the moment when floodlights spring into action to illuminate the giant inflatable kites on the north side of the pier. On the south side, daytime kites will be given a new lease of life with brightly coloured LEDs and dazzling effects, dancing in the sky until the show closes at 10.00pm.

In a break from previous years and looking towards a more sustainable future, organisers are working on a sound and light spectacular to replace the traditional fireworks. Sorry folks, no pyrotechnics, but we’re sure you’ll not be disappointed! The dogs and cats of St Annes will certainly sleep easier this year!

In addition to kites, there will be performers and entertainers, funfair and donkey rides, traders, and food and drink vendors on the beach and promenade from Friday through Sunday. Plus, there will be some fantastic sand art this year on the wide open beaches of St Annes which we know you’re going to love!

Supported through funding from St Annes Town Council there will be an Accessoloo on the Promenade which offers a modern mobile Changing Places toilet facility at the event to allow for a full day of fun with added inclusion.

Here’s a quick rundown of this year’s international kite flyers: Shahir and Abdullah from Kerala in southern India. Team Jeem from Gudjarat in the north. Øystein Høyland from Norway. Herman and Ina Plattje from Holland. Bernhard Dingwerth, Florian Janich, Ralf Maserski and Markus Münstermann from Germany, Florent Slonski from France and festival-regulars, Kitecrew Ireland.

Sue Kennedy from SmileFactor 10 said “We are excited to be back with a new format for 2023 and we are looking forward to welcoming new friends from across the world and closer to home. A big thank you to Fylde Council for their ongoing support, not forgetting the fantastic kite fliers who return year after year – we couldn’t do it without you! You have made St Annes Kite Festival the biggest in the UK. High Five!!”

Councillor Jayne Nixon, Fylde Council lead Member for Tourism said “This will be a fabulous event once again and I can’t wait to see the skies of St Annes awash with colours of all shapes and sizes and I thank the organisers, supporters and sponsors of the event for their kind support. It is also great to see such a busy weekend on the coast with an array of events with something for everyone”

The kite festival takes place on a very busy event weekend in Fylde with the Fairhaven Regatta taking place on Sunday 10th September, plus the Lytham Vehicle Show on Lytham Green on Sunday 10th September. Plus, on Saturday 9th September, there’s the rescheduled Blackpool Colour Run in aid of Trinity Hospice near Starr Gate. On top of that, it’s also the Southport Air Show weekend so you may well see aircraft just across the estuary, including the Red Arrows on Saturday

Please note the kite festival event is entirely weather-dependent, and the planned programme may be changed without notice for safety reasons.

12/12/2022

Oyez Oyez Oyez! Merry Christmas Everyone!
We come sharing great news, and hope you can share too!

St Anne's International Kite Festival Returns for 2023 on the 8th, 9th and 10th September.

This three-day event is a partnership between Fylde Council and SmileFactor10, and will see tens of thousands of visitors from all over the United Kingdom as well as kite fliers from across the globe coming together to fill the skies with colour over the course of the weekend.

Cllr Michael Sayward, Chairman of Fylde Council’s Tourism & Leisure Committee, said: “We’re very much looking forward to welcoming this fantastic annual event again for 2023. As always, we can expect a dazzling show, and I’d like to thank our partners at SmileFactor10 as well as our own officers for their hard work in making it happen. It’s bound to be a brilliant event for everyone.”

The celebrations kick off on Friday 8 September, with the flying of all kinds of kites large and small either side of the St Annes Pier. From dusk, an illuminated kite flying evening will see kites with flashing lights take to the sky, accompanied by floodlit inflatables in the shapes of all manner of creatures.

Sue Kennedy of SmileFactor10 said: “We’re delighted to be heading back to St Annes-on-Sea for what promises to be another great event. In 2022, the festival welcomed more kites and more kite flyers than ever before, and 2023 promises to be even bigger with more to see and do. Kite flyers from across the UK and the world are already counting the days!”

Across the Saturday (11:00am to 5:00pm) and Sunday (11:00am to 4:00pm), the six arenas will be host to all kinds of kites, with more animal inflatables, artistic kites, and sports kites choreographed to music – bring your own kite to join in or buy a kite at the event and fly it in the public area! Back on the ground, there will be funfair rides on the beach, stalls for refreshments, and plenty of other entertainment.

There’s a wealth of features to be announced for the 2023 event, keep an eye on our social media accounts for further updates.

Please note that the event is entirely weather dependent, and the planned programme may be changed without notice for safety reasons. For more information about the event and the facilities, please see the Discover Fylde website.

04/09/2022

One more day to go!

03/09/2022

The sun is shining! The wind is blowing! What are you waiting for??

03/09/2022

8am this morning! This wasn’t staged, I spotted this man picking litter on the beach! Can anyone Id him?

02/09/2022

Game day!! In a couple of hours time we will be heading for the beach to build the St. Annes international kite festival for everyone’s enjoyment. It’s unlikely we will be around to answer any questions, just tell your mates and get yourselves to the beach in good time. See you there! We start officially at 6pm but we’ll be flying kites just as soon as we are set up!

01/09/2022

Official festival times are as follows: Friday 6pm festival grand opening! 9.25/9.30 fireworks STC. Saturday 11-5pm and Sunday 11-4pm. These are the official times however… we will be on the beach setting up from early Friday morning and guess what we’ll do when we’re done? ;-) arriving early on Friday would be a cute thing to do, beat the traffic and get some fish and chips for your tea from the cafe at the pier, who have been the festival’s greatest supporters! It’s going be epic!

31/08/2022

All the fun of Solfest! See you at St Anne’s!