Looking for something to do? Beech Mountain Mile High Kite Festival

Oh, oh, oh!
Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height!
Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let's go fly a kite!

-song lyrics from "Let's Go Fly a Kite" from Mary Poppins.

There is nothing more fun or more relaxing, depending on how you look at it than the Mile High Kite Festival of Beech Mountain, NC.  At 5506' above sea level, Beech Mountain is the highest incorporated town east of the Rockies.  So when you fly a kite on this mountain, it is over a mile high!

Every Labor Day weekend, families enjoy the opening of The Meadows of Beech Mountain for a Kite Festival, not just  for flying kites.  The festival includes:

50 crafters and artisans for browsing.

A Kids Fun Zone with activities

Free Kites to the first 150 people

Certificates celebrating flying a Kite a Mile High (I could insert a joke in here, but choose not to)

Food, Music and of course FUN.

Richmond Air Force, Wings Across Carolina Kiting and Okra Society Kiting Clubs will have kiting demonstrations and techniques along with amazing displays.  Contest for best decorated kites and other fun activities fill the day.

Don't have a kite?  You can always purchase a kite from the vendors at the festival, or if you are the first 150, you'll get a free kite to decorate.  If you remember to stop and pickup a kite along the way, you're ensuring you don't arrive at the Meadows with nothing to fly.

I love getting there early, there are a lot of people in one place trying to fly a kite.  My sons and I setup camp along the edge of the meadows, that way there isn't too many people to run into.  Biggest thing to remember during this festival is that there are a ton of kids trying to fly a kite, and all of them will be running up and down the Meadows not sure what to do.  See it as a fun day, don't worry if your kite string gets tangled 1,432 times, or you accidentally run over the 3yr old trying their best.  Better yet, let everyone else fly their kites and sit and people watching, best free entertainment you can ask for. If you are looking for smaller crowds, try at the very beginning of the festival or towards the end.

If you tire of the festival, live music at Eastern America's Highest Bar, 5506, located at the top of Beech Mountain Ski Mountain starts at 330pm.  Food and drink are also available, but the view is what you will talk about on your drive home.

Local restaurants for a relaxing lunch include Brick Oven Pizza, Bullwinkles Pizza, Beech Alpen Inn, Fred's General Mercantile Deli, Fast Eddies, and Mile High Tavern.  Food and drink are also available at the festival.

Most hotels in the area offer lodging, there are still cabin rentals available (with discounts available), or just make a day trip out of it.  If you decide to stay the long weekend, Beech Alpen Inn offers live music on Sunday evening starting at 5pm.  Take a hike along the Emerald Outback, or sit beside Lower Pond Creek listening to the water flow.  Either way with highs in the 70's and lows in the upper 50's after our heatwave this summer, Beech Mountain is going to feel good!

So think about a day trip to fly a kite.  Get up early and plan your drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway, stop for a few sights, then head up the mountain.  You'll see the festival right away, meaning you'll see the kites right away.  Leave with a certificate celebrating your Mile High Kite journey, then plan another trip back when the leaves change.

Details for the Kite Festival are located here.

Oh, oh, oh!
Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height!
Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let's go fly a kite!

-song lyrics from "Let's Go Fly a Kite" from Mary Poppins.