Colvin and Brodie Pierpoint fly their kites at the Books & Breezes event at the airport. Besides the kites, face painting, and inflatables, the kids caught candy shot from The Great American Kite Company’s candy cannon and were given beads, bracelets, sunglasses and more by the Atchison County Library staff and board. (Photos submitted by Jennifer Danley)
Harper Wood, Stella Pyeatt, and Jaylee Wood enjoyed some cool, tasty treats to beat the heat at the kite festival.
Colvin and Brodie Pierpoint and Braylon Thomas shoot some hoops during the Books & Breezes Giant Kite Festival held at Gould Peterson Municipal Airport near Tarkio Sunday, August 2, 2026. Hosted by the Atchison County Library, the event showed off kites provided by The Great American Kite Company. Unfortunately, the wind did not cooperate in providing enough lift to get the giant kites flying, but the crowd made the best of the day by buying kites and flying them and enjoying the inflatable games like basketball and tic-tac-toe and a slide from A to Z Event Rentals.
Skyler Alsup shows off her face painting.
Nearly 700 people gathered at Gould Peterson Municipal Airport in Tarkio on Sunday, August 2, 2026, for the Atchison County Library’s second annual Books & Breezes Kite Festival. The free community event featured giant kite displays by The Great American Kite Company of Chillicothe, Missouri, along with public kite flying, a children’s activity zone with inflatables and face painting, and food trucks. Families from across the region enjoyed an afternoon of outdoor fun.
The library’s passion about bringing the community together is the inspiration behind creating this event for families and people to enjoy. It also helps to bring awareness to the library’s future endeavors, including expanding services and the future construction of a new facility in Rock Port.
Building on the success of last year’s festival, which welcomed more than 600 attendees, this year’s event drew nearly 700 guests, making it another successful celebration of community, literacy, and family fun.
The Atchison County Library appreciates the sponsors and supporters for making this event possible: Soaring High sponsors – Citizens Bank & Trust and Midwest Data Center; Above the Cloud sponsors – Atchison County Development Corporation, Fertilizer Service Company, Kent Fisher Insurance, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Minter Funeral Chapel, Oswald Crow Agency, Trail’s End, and Atchison County Veterinary Clinic; and Kids’ Zone sponsors – Tarkio Rotary Club, Atchison-Holt Electric Cooperative, Community Hospital-Fairfax, Griffin Farms, Riverstone Insurance Group, Tony and Eryn Stepp, The Flower Mill, Advanced Pork Systems, Fairfax Agency, Jacob Erdman Agency-Shelter Insurance, Luke Therapy Services, Hoot & Holler, The Gym, Rachel Ottmann Photography, Lola’s Paw Spa, A Perfect 10 Salon, Burke and Sons Lumber, Golden Triangle, Matt and Ann Schlueter, Brooks, Lydia and Gus Hurst, and the Mule Barn Theatre Guild. Special thanks for support and assistance go to Nick Howell Construction, Have Potty Will Travel, A to Z Party Rentals, Doodle Cheeks Facepainting, Gould Peterson Municipal Airport, Klosek Trash Service, Quad State Ink, and the Atchison County Library board and staff members; as well as the event’s food vendors who donated a portion of their proceeds to the library.
