King of the Wind Kite Festival
48th Annual Sunfest Kite Festival 2026
September 17th thru September 20th
9:00am – 5:00pm
4th St – 6th St
Ocean City, MD 21842
For more information, visit kiteloft.com.
See the skyline of Ocean City explode with color at this weekend’s Sunfest Kite Festival, on the famous downtown boardwalk. Celebrating its 47th year, this world class event is recognized as one of the top 100 most popular venues on the planet.
All are welcome to witness and participate in general kite flying, kite flying games, Bol races, candy drops, sport kite demos, or just plain kite spectating. AND IT’S FREE!
You can expect to see a ton of new giant kites from Mermaids, Hippocampus, Angels, Octopuses, Alligators, Trilobites, Mel the giant Whale, Whisper the Winged Horse, Dragons, Woodstock, Snoopy and on and on. This will certainly pack Ocean City’s famous Boardwalk with spectators.
In addition, there will be quad line demos throughout the festival. Quad kites are four-line kites flown in formation, much like the Thunderbirds. Several times during the festival we will have as many as 16 quad flyers standing side by side, flying to music, all in perfect formation.
Be sure to bring the kids down for the Candy Drops where we drop candy from a large kite. We will do several of these on both Saturday and Sunday.
Over the course of 4 days, you can expect to see the following taking place all day long:
Giant Kite Air Show
Sport Kite and Quad Kite Demos
Kite Trains
Free Sport Kite Lessons
Candy Drops
Giant Bubble Show
Running of the Bols
All of the events listed above are wind and weather permitting. So, if you don’t see any kites flying, it’s because there is not enough wind or it’s raining. Please keep in mind that all of the kites you see on the beach are owned by the kiting enthusiasts that attend the event. Feel free to take pictures but be respectful of their kites and display banners. We want everyone to enjoy the event so please join in the flying fun. You can bring a kite or purchase one at The Kite Loft and fly in the Small Kite Field as shown on the festival map.
