Untitled - KiteLife

The Kite Trade Association stagedanother successful effort this lastJanuary in Dallas . This year's tradeshow, the association's third sincetheir breakaway from the AmericanKiteflier's Association, proved tobe the biggest and best thus far .Some 65 member businesses filled 84booths in the 12,000 foot ballroomof the Sheraton Park Central for theoccasion, which ran from January15-20 ."It's been fantastic . . . the best tradeshow that we've ever had ." accordingto KTA President Bob Miletti ofTRLBY Products . "It's bigger than lastyear . . . more professional . . . the qualityof the booths is starting to showsigns that this is a real organizationand a trade group to be reckonedwith ." Miletti wasn't the only showattendee that appreciated the atmosphereof the gathering .Dennis Van Fleet of Sodbuster's SkyToys (IA) commented that it was "Agreat show! It just keeps gettingbetter year after the year . What I likeabout it is that you're able to talk tothe people that are making the kites,you learn exactly what they do ." Thisyear's convention sure made a lot ofthat possible . . . especially in the areaof stunt kites!Better than 2/3 of the exhibitorsshowed either stunt kites or multi-linerelated products . There was almostmore to see than could be graspedin the three active days that thetrade show was open . In addition toestablished lines of products, we wereimpressed by the number of newfirms and new kites represented .Paragon Sports Kites Internationalshowed a new entry to the field withtheir Interceptor (review on page 40)Peter Powell introduced a new quadliner: the Omni (review on page 29)Terry Crumpler of Windwalker Kiteswas on hand with anotherdownsized model : this one of hispopular WASP, called the Guinea .Right next door, fellow Texan BobChilds showed his production modelWizards and a new self-launchproduct called "The Bone" . SharingBob's booth was yet another Texan,Chris Dunlop, who displayed hisstunning sail design efforts in anothernew stunter .There were a number of other newofferings from Texas as well . FrontierKites had three ; the Team Storm(review on page 42) the Sky Rascaland the L'il Rascal . The minds at KiteInnovations have been devoting alot of time lately to production of theTeam High Fly but had time to introducea new 11-panel, 3-color Evolutionand the SS2, a downscaled (9sq, foot) version of their soft stunter .The California contingent was onhand with a plethora of products,both new and redesigned . Action