The Santa Barbara Kite Festival is a family-friendly annual kite festival held every April in the Great Meadow lawn on the west campus of Santa Barbara City College. Festival creator and Kite Master Rakesh Bahadur’s family opened the first commercial kite store in America in the 1970s. Rakesh and Festival Director David Hefferman present the festival each year to the community as a “labor of love”. They have enjoyed kite flying with generations of families from far and near over the years. “We’ve seen families literally grow up at the festival, and then return with their own new families each year.

The 2025 Santa Barbara Kite Festival has announced the theme for this year’s event – “Help One Another”. Festival Kite Master Rakesh Bahadur and Co Director David Hefferman created this year’s theme “Help One Another” to recognize how even the simple act of flying a kite together invites us all to help one another and celebrates the sharing, love, and togetherness of families and friends at the festival. The 39th Santa Barbara Kite Festival returns 11am-4pm Sunday April 13th to the Great Meadow on the West Campus lawn at  Santa Barbara City College.