During the festival days hundreds of kites dot the sky over the coast south of Shabla Lighthouse and the spacious meadows are transformed into a platform for young artists – musicians, dancers, actors and painters. Skillful kite flyers from all over Bulgaria and neighboring Romania, Turkey, Greece, Ukraine and other countries demonstrate their huge handmade kites.

Traditionally, tents hosting workshops for making kites, jewelry and cards and souvenirs of natural materials are located in the area. There are stalls selling handmade mementos and a special place is reserved for a bio-market where local producers offer ecologically produced local products (fruits, vegetables and honey). Short bird watching trips to the nearby Tuzla Lagoon and Tjulenovo are also organized.

Colorful events and beautiful scenery, especially when combined together, inevitably attract the attention of photographers, artists and other lovers of the visual arts. Every year we invite all photographers – amateurs and professionals – to take part in our pain air photo contest for editorial and artistic photography.  At a later stage we select the 20 best photos and organize a photo exhibition to promote the event. Experience from previous years has shown that the time and place of the event is suitable for wildlife photographers too, who make excellent shots of the migrating storks, pelicans, honey-buzzards, harriers, eagles and other raptors.

As part of the photographic events during the Festival of Kites – Shabla 2016, for instance, we featured our WILDLIFE OF NORTHEASTERN BULGARIA photo selection in the hall of Green Training Center – Shabla at the official opening of the festival. The exhibition is devoted to the birds, the rich diversity and natural beauty of this region.

There is a variety accompanying events held during the festival, ranging from graffiti shows in which street artists from the country and abroad paint on old gas tanks, on fishing boats and other unusual “canvases” their vision and messages relating to the protection of nature, concerts, painting and photo exhibitions in the beautiful stone building of Green Training Center Shabla.

With the assortment of activities that the festival includes, it provides excellent opportunities for promoting creativity, strengthening family ties and cheerful leisure. The natural beauty of the region – sloping rocky shores and wide meadows with constant breeze – have made Kite Festival Shabla a popular entertainment event with the perfect opportunity to promote the idea of protecting the region’s unique wildlife and beautiful landscape. Attracting participants and guests from home and abroad, the festival gives a positive sign for the sustainable development of the region and promotes the image of Bulgaria as a country that respects and cherishes its natural heritage.

Kite Festival – Varna 2015 is organized by Club “Asto – Sky Wonders” and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) – a team of enthusiasts with experience in conducting events of this kind and with ambition to turn it into one of the iconic events of Varna in summer. With its international character, this innovative and attractive cultural event contributes to the development of the specific look of the city, encourages creativity and social inclusion of different groups of participants, fosters a love of flying, birds and freedom, and the right attitude to the environment.

This year the festival is dedicated to the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats and is co-funded by the WCS with the support of the EEA Financial Mechanism 2009 – 2014.

Once again the festival is international – participants from Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia and elsewhere will fly their original handmade kites. The program includes a parade of kites, competition for the most attractive model, demonstrations of model aircraft, paragliders and other flying objects, as well as a kite making workshop on the spot. The accompanying program of the festival is also rich – performances of children’s dance and theater groups from Varna and the region, mini-concerts of famous Bulgarian pop singers, workshops and art studios, watching the migration of storks, pelicans and other soaring birds with specialized optics, nice music and many other activities.

A workshop for reportage and artistic photography will also be hale at the festival. The participants in this workshop will have the opportunity to photograph the events during the festival, and especially the demonstrations of international kite flyers who will demonstrate their master skills in managing huge colorful handmade and stunt kites. The experience of last year showed that the time and place of the event are suitable for wildlife photographers too – they could shoot the migration of storks, pelicans, honey-buzzards, harriers, eagles and other raptors. Selected photos from this workshop will be included in a traveling exhibition “SKY WONDERS – VARNA 2015″ which will be displayed at various places in the city and elsewhere in the country.

Our partners in conducting this year’s festival are: Marti Kite Club – Turkey, Radio Varna, Photoplace, peika.bg, Impact Press Group, “Look at Varna”, tourist company “Neophron Tours”, graphic design studio “Oddara” and others.

The festival supports the choice of Varna for European Youth Capital in 2017.

More information:

WCS’s project “Increasing the capacity of volunteers in northeastern Bulgaria for the implementation of biological monitoring,” briefly “Volunteers for Nature”, is funded under the program BG03 in Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2009 – 2014 .

This document has been created with the financial support of the BG03 Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. The sole responsibility for the content of this document lies with the Wildlife Conservation Society and under no circumstances can be assumed that this document reflects the official opinion of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Program Operator – the Ministry of Environment and Water (www.BG03.moew.government.bg)

This year’s Festival of Kites supported the cause of the Wildlife Conservation Society “Let’s get to know and love the soaring birds on the Black Sea migration route Via Pontica”.

Many thanks to all photographers – amateurs and professionals, who sent us their photos. Here is a selection of 22 representative images, which were extremely difficult to select among all the beautiful photos we received

Favorable winds allowed the participants to demonstrate their skills in the manipulation of original and attractive kite models. This year the festival included participants from neighboring Turkey. Enthusiasts from Seagull Kite Club even rose in the sky the biggest kite ever seen in town – a blue silk bear. Some models were patterned by the smiling children on the beach.

To the kids’ delight, candies rained from the sky, while the colorful kites floated amid thousands of White Storks migrating over Varna.

Over 20,000 storks flew over Asparuhovo Beach during the festival, following the Via Pontica – the western Black Sea migratory route of birds. The sight of huge colorful kites against the stork flocks fascinated everybody present, and reminded us of our privilege, but also of our responsibility to protect this natural wealth.

This year’s Festival of Kites supports the cause of the Wildlife Conservation Society “Let’s get to know and love the soaring birds on the Black Sea migration route Via Pontica”. We thank all the members and volunteers of WCS for the enthusiasm and effort s they put to make this event happen!

This year the Varna Kite Festival becomes international – participants from Bulgaria, Italy, Turkey, Romania and others will demonstrate their original handmade models. The program includes a parade of kites, a competition for the most attractive model demonstrations of model aircraft, gliders and other flying objects and kite-making workshop on the spot. The accompanying program of the festival is also rich – performances of children’s dance and theater groups from Varna and the region, mini-concert of famous Bulgarian pop singers, workshops for making jewelry, badges and origami, a photography workshop and photo exhibitions “Kite Festival – Varna 2014 “, guided watching the ongoing migration of storks, pelicans and other soaring birds with specialized optics, nice music and many other activities.

Striving to achieve the freedom and beauty of the flight of birds, about two millennia ago man invented the kite. Therefore, the relationship between such a popular entertainment like kite-flying and the cause of wild birds conservation is more than obvious. This year’s festival supports the initiative of the Wildlife Conservation Society “Let’s get to know and love the soaring birds along the Black Sea migration flyway, the Via Pontica”.