The Santa Barbara Kite Festival is a family-friendly annual kite
festival held every April in the Great Meadow lawn on the west campus
of Santa Barbara City College. Festival creator and Kite Master Rakesh
Bahadur’s family opened the first commercial kite store in America
in the 1970s. Rakesh and Festival Director David Hefferman present the
festival each year to the community as a “labor of love”. They
have enjoyed kite flying with generations of families from far and
near over the years. “We’ve seen families literally grow up at the
festival, and then return with their own new families each year. The
2025 Santa Barbara Kite Festival has announced the theme for this
year’s event – “Help One Another”. Festival Kite Master Rakesh
Bahadur and Co Director David Hefferman created this year’s theme
“Help One Another” to recognize how even the simple act of flying
a kite together invites us all to help one another and celebrates the
sharing, love, and togetherness of families and friends at the
festival. The 39th Santa Barbara Kite Festival returns 11am-4pm Sunday
April 13th to the Great Meadow on the West Campus lawn at Santa
Barbara City College.