Drachen in German means dragon. It also means kite.

September 12 thousands of Berliners congregated in the Tempelhofer Feld to celebrate the “Drachenfest” – the dragonfest-, I mean the Kite festival.

The Tempelhofer Feld (Field of Tempelhof) is a park that used to be the Tempelhof Airport, functioning as such from 1923 – 2008.

Thousands of Berliners spent the day on the field enjoying the hundreds of kites many of them brought with them to fly collectively in a Volfsfest like atmosphere.

Meanwhile the organizers of the Drachenfest also provides multiple mega-sized contraptions to take to the air.

Including, fittingly, a dragon:

So much to share, from the large floats to the many varied “amateur” fliers. Let’s start with some panoramic shots of my first approach into the field from the North:

Now let’s check out the large Drachen the organizers raised into the air.

The kite-floats were raised by having regular air (not helium) flowing into them with help of the wind. Here you can see that process started with two massive hedgehogs:

Behind the hedgehogs, see the Vortex twist:

Some pop culture infiltration. In addition to Slimer and Pokemon…

… there also is a Funko Pop Harry Potter.

But let’s now turn our attention to the open field and the crowd and the many kites they flew.

All ages partook in the fun. Including this little girl and her little Gabby’s Dollhouse kite:

BONUS MINI-POST: The Airlift Memorial

Just on the city side of the main building of the historic airport stands the Airlift Memorial. Commemorating the “Luftbrücke” of the Berlin Blockade of 1949.

Above how it stood in 1959, at the 10th anniversary of the Airlift.

My childhood memory of this memorial is of it standing dramatically near the airport surrounded by busy street traffic. Now it is picturesquely surrounded by a park.

Honoring the pilots of died in plane crashes during the Airlift.