Raw States

Color the Wind Kite Festival

Clear Lake, IA · Quirky

When

February 20, 2027

Where

Clear Lake City Beach, South Lakeview Drive · Clear Lake · IA

Cost

Not confirmed

Status

Approximate: based on past editions, not announced yet

Kite flyers fill the frozen surface of Clear Lake each February for what organizers bill as the largest winter kite festival in the Midwest. The 25 year old festival has occasionally been canceled when ice conditions turn unsafe, underscoring just how literally it depends on the lake itself.

The history within reach

• Buddy Holly crash1.2 mi

  Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P.

• National Hobo Convention (Britt Hobo Days)21 mi

  Real hobos and hobo hobbyists have gathered in this small north Iowa town since 1900 to elect a Hobo King and Queen, share mulligan stew from an open kettle, and swap stories at the Hobo Jungle.

• Sturgis Falls Celebration63 mi

  Cedar Falls throws its biggest community festival on the last weekend of June, with a parade, live bands on multiple stages, a classic car show, and an arts and crafts fair anchored at Overman Park.

• Steele County Free Fair65 mi

  The Steele County Free Fair fills the fairgrounds in Owatonna each August with free admission, a full midway, and nightly grandstand concerts.

• The Dakota War and the Mankato hangings78 mi

  After treaty payments failed and traders told the starving Dakota to eat grass, war broke out along the Minnesota River.