Annual Mall Moments: Some Mall Moments happen once, while other moments happen every year as traditions. In this series, we highlight the events that bring the National Mall to life each year and bring people together. Some of the moments are fun and some somber but they each play a part in giving the National Mall a sense of America’s Front Yard. Explore the moments that visitors look forward to again and again. 

You can’t fly many things over the National Mall, but you can fly a kite! Every year, as the cherry blossoms reach peak bloom, thousands of people gather to see and experience the colorful aerial spectacle of the Blossom Kite Festival. 

What became the annual kite festival on the National Mall began as the acquisition of twenty kites from the Chinese Imperial Commission by the Smithsonian Institution in 1876. A century later, the National Air and Space Museum opened on July 1st, 1976. A decade before the National Air and Space Museum opened, however, its predecessor in the National Air Museum and Smithsonian Associates hosted the first Annual Kite Carnival on March 25, 1967, under the direction of inaugural curator Paul E. Garber.

In the early days, the event was more of a competition, with people flying homemade and ready-made kites in a variety of contests. The Smithsonian Institution sponsored the Kite Festival until it became an official part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in 2010. 

People come to the Mall with all sorts of kites—from homemade creations crafted at kitchen tables to high-performance designs flown by seasoned enthusiasts—and from every age, from young children gripping their first spool of string to experienced fliers who return year after year. Professionals and amateurs alike share the same open sky, turning the National Mall into a colorful, kinetic canvas of movement and creativity. Some kites soar steadily above the Washington Monument, while others dip, dance, and dart through the spring breeze, drawing cheers from the crowd below. 

Past highlights of the Kite Festival in its decades-long run include the Rokkaku Battle, Kite Ballet, stunt kites, kite-making competitions, adult and youth flying competitions, Hot Tricks Showdown and a Family Field for fliers of all ages.  

Rokkaku, from the Japanese word for “six edges,” are six-sided kites that tangle each other’s lines in airborne battles. In kite-making competitions, kites are judged based on different standard shapes, like box or sled shapes, with special awards given for group efforts, funniest kite, and more.

The Blossom Kite Festival reminds us that the National Mall is not only a place to reflect on the past, but also a space to celebrate the present. As kites of all shapes and sizes fill the sky, they bring together people of different ages, backgrounds, and skill levels in a shared moment of creativity and joy.

Whether you are flying your very first kite or watching from the sidelines, you become part of a tradition that returns each year, connecting generations through simple play and wonder. In these moments, the Mall transforms into a living, breathing community space—where history, culture, and imagination all rise together on the wind. 

Learn more about the Blossom Kite Festival and National Cherry Blossom Festival here. The schedule for the day is available here. 

If you have photos from this event and would like them featured in this article, please email them to gateway@nationalmall.org