FARMINGTON – Wind was scarce but a few die-hard kite-fliers could be found at UMF’s Prescott Field on Saturday for the scheduled Kite Festival, catching sporadic gusts of wind, sharing stories and kite-shaped cookies.

Frank Roberts, director of Mantor Library, and other library workers, like Ilze Baldois, put a lot of planning into the festival to coincide with Klahedl Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner,” the book chosen to be on display for the semester as part of the “On Our Minds” program that focuses on a theme or particular novel of interest every spring semester at the university.

The library anticipated many members of the Noreasters, an unofficial kite-flying group that flies in the Portland area, to be there, as well as organizations and businesses in the community, but lack of wind scared many away.

Tony Heeschen and his wife Petra Bergmann, Noreaster members and fliers for 15 and 12 years, respectively, showed off their homemade kites and got a few up in the air. Bergmann was expecting a lot more wind and a lot more people.

Heeshden demonstrated how his kite of choice – a handmade Indian-Afghanistan fighter kite with glass line string – is flown. These are different than the one-line, Japanese-style fighter kites – rokako – his wife prefers. In Japan, whole masses of kites fight to take down other kites, while in Afghanistan the goal is to cut the kite with a glass string.

The couple began flying store-bought kites but started making their own because it became more fun to see the different colors and designs, Bergmann says. They have made more than 100 kites for themselves, friends and relatives in styles of fighter, rokako, sled kites containing two inflatable tubes, the basic eddy kite for the kids, and the difficult-to-fly four-line kites. Bergmann considers the Afghanistan fighter kite the most difficult to fly because it’s so delicate.

The couple fly every weekend at Buglight Park in South Portland with the Noreasters, and have traveled to Rhode Island, Oregon and Canada for competitions.

Dena Dyke of Rumford, Noreaster member and serious flier for seven years, managed to get her ultra-light stunt kite, used for low wind, up in the air. The kite is part of a set of three, each used for different wind speeds.

Dyke shares a kite-flying secret: “We tell people not to run with kites,” Dyke says. This is not a safe practice as lines can cross and cut people and the kites can get going fast enough to hurt people if they were to get hit. “Sixty miles per hour is not uncommon,” Dyke says.

Though disappointed with the lack of wind, the group remained positive while they ate Bergmann’s kite-shaped cookies and attempted to fly.