World’s largest kite festival fills danish skies with 25,000 kites
LOCATION: Fanø, Denmark
DATE: June 21, 2026
LENGTH: 5:12
SOURCE: Kongshaug Productions
PHOTO: Anders Kongshaug +45 23 10 30 58
STORY
The world’s largest kite festival had 25.000 kites up on the wide sandy beaches of Fanø, a small Danish island on the North Sea coast.
Fanø is known worldwide as one of the best places to fly kites. The world’s largest kite meeting – Fanø International Kite Fliers Meeting – is held every year in June on Fanø.
5000 kite flyers meet from 26 countries have gathered over the weekend, filling the sky with an estimated 25,000 kites of all shapes, sizes and colors.
Along the vast beach north of the town of Nordby, participants have launched everything from giant sharks and fantasy creatures to enormous artistic creations. Some kites are as large as houses, while others showcase intricate engineering and detailed craftsmanship.
Fanø’s combination of steady coastal winds and expansive open beaches has made the island one of the world’s leading destinations for kite flying for more than four decades, attracting enthusiasts from across the globe.
The largest kites often require several people to launch. One of the festival’s most spectacular displays, a formation of nine giant octopus kites, required around 20 members of the German kite club Drachenclub Osnabrück to get airborne.
Corinne Thoma, a kite flyer and architect from Drachenclub Osnabrück, explained that the giant kites are connected in a triangular formation, allowing them to remain stable while creating an impressive visual display in the sky.
One of this year’s highlights has been precision team flying, where eight pilots maneuver their kites in synchronized formations. Using four-line kites, the pilots create complex aerial patterns that require years of training, concentration and teamwork.
It all started in 1985 by a German from Hamburg that went to Fanø with some friends to fly kites. It was so much fun that they decided to return the following year and invite some more friends along. Since then, the number of participants has grown and grown
Participants have traveled to Fanø from countries including Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, the United States and several Asian nations, alongside large numbers of Danish kite flyers.
The 41st International Kite Fliers Meeting on Fanø ends Sunday, but organizers have already begun planning next year’s edition, which is expected to feature a special Asian theme.
End
SHOTLIST
- CRAB KITE IN FRONT OF SQUID KITES
- TOTAL OF THE BEACH WITH KITES AT FANØ
- SKY FULL OF KITES
- DRONE OF DRAGON KITE
- PAN OF MANY KITES
- KITE SPINNING IN FOREGROUND WHILE CAR DRIVES PAST IN BACKGROUND
- PAN ALONG BLACK SQUID KITES
- PAN UP OF KITES IN THE SKY
- PAN OF BLACK AND YELLOW KITE
- PAN ALONG COLORFUL KITES
- CLOSE UP OF THE LINE HOLDING THE KITES
- PAN ALONG PIG AND CAT KITE
- BANNER AMONG KITES, WHICH READS “INT KITE FLIERS MEETING FANØ”
- SAME BANNER SEEN IN BACKGROUND WITH MANY KITES AROUND IT
- SOCCER BALL AND DRAGON KITE
- PAN UP IN SKY FILLED WITH KITES
- PAN ACROSS MANY SQUID KITES
- SOUNDBITE Simone Marschall. Kite-flyer. Marketing Consultant. 53. Germany.
“Fanø is a great place because there’s lots of space for kite flying. This is exceptional because in many countries it is restricted to fly kites on the beach. And here you have lots of space and many friendly people who laugh. - KITE THAT LOOKS LIKE A PERSON FLYING A KITE
- COUPLE HELPING EACH OTHER HOLD A BIG KITE
- Soundbite Corinne Thoma, Kite Flyer, Architect. 57. Switzerland:
“We were here for the first time, last year. And this year is the second time we come here with our kites for fun, and make it a holiday” - THE SKY FILLED WITH KITES WITH A FLAG IN THE BACKGROUND THAT READS “I love Fanø (oe)”
- PAN ACROSS MANY SQUID KITES
- DIFFERENT COLOR SQUID KITES IN THE SKY
- MOUNTING POST FOR THE KITES
- SOUNDBITE Simone Marschall. Kite-flyer. Marketing Consultant. 53. Germany cont.:
“It’s not so easy. You need to do some preparation. You need, I think we have, a triangle. The main, the main lines we will set first, and then we hang this extra, lines with the octopuses into it. So it needs some preparation, and of course, it needs some people. We are here with, I think around about 20 people. And so you need some, some help to do that. “ - PAN ACROSS MULTIPLE KITES
- KITES FLYING WITH TRUCKS PARKED IN THE BACKGROUND
- KITES AND PEOPLE
- ASTRONAUT KITE
- GROUP OF PEOPLE FLYING KITES
- GROUP FLYING KITES IN VARIOUS PATTERNS
- SOUNDBITE Holger Münx, Kite-flyer. IT. 58. Germany
“We all know each other. Most of us. And sometimes you are meeting new people, but it’s kind of, more or less, the same people. “ - MAN GUIDING THE TECHNICAL KITES
- SOUNDBITE Holger Münx, Kite-flyer. IT. 58. Germany
“Because you do not have all the control, but then at some point it clicks and then you don´t have to think about it. It´s like driving a car with a stick shift. You don´t think around what the right gear is, you just do it. And its the same here. There is a bit of a learning curve but after a while its automat” - GROUP FLYING KITES IN VARIOUS PATTERNS
- LOTS OF COLOURFUL KITES
- PAN OF KITES WITH MOUNTING POST IN FOREGROUND
- PAN ALONG LONG KITE
- PAN ALONG KITES ON BEACH
- DRONE FLYING UP, FOLLOWING STRING OF KITES
END
German Soundbites
Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/reviews/b2ccded7-aee8-4f68-aac6-bc0bafde0ed2/videos/1203274045
or Wetransfer
https://we.tl/t-mRDzaFjw58PSwvEH
GERMAN
- SOUNDBITE Simone Marschall. Kite-flyer. Marketing Consultant. 53
“Fanø ist ein wirklich wundervoller Platz zum Drachenfliegen. Wie gesagt, hier ist toller Wind. Man hat viel Platz, um Drachen steigen zu lassen und die Menschen lieben es, die lieben. Schauen zu und es macht Spaß” - Soundbite Corinne Thoma, Kite Flyer, Architect 57
“ Wir sind letztes Jahr zum Ersten Mal hier nach vorne gekommen und jetzt sind wir zum Zweiten Mal hier mit unseren Drachen und haben Spaß in den Ferien hier.” - SOUNDBITE Simone Marschall. Kite-flyer. Marketing Consultant. 53
“Man braucht die richtigen Bedingungen. Heute sind so 3 bis 4 Wochen vor, also ideal. Aber wir müssen halt leinen drei bzw fünf Leinen und da werden die extra Leinen reingeschneit mit den reingehängt mit den anderen Drachen zusammen also mit den mit den Oktopus Drachen und insofern man braucht einfach günstige Wind Bedingungen und auch ein paar Leute die sich um die 20 Mann. Man braucht viele helfende Hände.”