By Stephen Smoot
Since 2017, not counting 2020, Experience Learning has invited all to test their skills at flying kites on the windswept summit of West Virginia’s highest point.
The idea originated in considerations of what would combine a fun and attractive event with an open house to show off Experience Learning’s Spruce Knob Mountain Center. David Martin, executive director of Experience Learning, described the site as “fantastic for all sorts of events with a beautiful setting, plenty of parking, facilities, and amenities that can accommodate hundreds of people.”
For mass kite flying, “it’s almost always at least a little windy” on the top of the ridge. Martin added, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a day up there so still that one couldn’t fly a kite.”
The iconic one-sided trees on the top of Spruce Knob confirm Martin’s observation. Almost constant winds force the branches of trees on the summit to only grow in the downwind direction.
“Hundreds of people of all types come from near and far to visit at Kite Fest,” noted Martin. Families from in and near Pendleton County join “kite flying aficionados from all over.” Though still new, the event has quickly developed into a tradition. As Martin explains, “We have many former staff members, summer campers, and other participants for whom it has become a bit of a reunion.”
The “diverse group of people” even includes “families who either lived on this property or farmed here in bygone days come back just to see what we’ve done with the place,” he added.
The Spruce Knob Kite Festival joins the new annual Memorial Day Weekend bike party at Experience Learning’s Sweetwater Farms as “events . . . each year that are free, open to the public, and require no commitment on anyone’s part.”
Experience Learning’s programs focus on youth development. Martin described the organization as akin to the Boy and Girl Scouts or 4-H, where outdoor based, hands-on learning takes center stage. He stated, “We engage in science education and help kids to develop increased self-confidence through adventuring in the out-of-doors.”
“Lots of people are curious about us and our places, but don’t often have a good reason to come, or feel like they need an open invitation to check us out,” Martin observed. Events like Kite Fest give people “an excuse to come up and visit, see the place, meet the team, and enjoy themselves.”
Experience Learning took over all United States based operations from the Mountain Institute in 2016. Its roots date back to the Woodlands and Whitewater Institute founded in 1972.
