They fly through the sky with the greatest of ease, tugged and maneuvered into action by gawkers below.

These lofty spectacles are a far cry from that simple kite, key dangling from its tail, launched by Ben Franklin back in 1752 for his famous lightning experiment.

Today’s kites come in all shapes, colors and sizes, and a growing number of people are taking to the skies to enjoy a simple form of entertainment that doesn’t require an electrical outlet or even a battery.

A stiff breeze will suffice.

“I feel like we have sold even more kites this year and I’ve noticed a lot of families bringing younger kids in to get in on the fun,” said Maegan Ward, assistant manager at Figpickels Toy Emporium in downtown Coeur d’Alene. “A lot of people are starting to get into it.”

With more than a dozen options to choose from, kite-buyers at Figpickels can spend a few dollars or nearly $100 for a kite.

From an octopus kite with eight dangling legs measuring 10 feet, to pocket kites a mere foot-and-a-half in length that are popular with the little ones, Ward says fliers have more choices than ever before.

“We’ve got some pretty bright rainbow colors with blues and reds and pinks … unicorns, some pirate flags and the octopus,” she said. “Part of the appeal of kites is to see all the colors and the creatures up in the air.”

From toddlers to seniors, the demographic of kite lovers is as limitless as the skies in which they hover.

“We’ve got some pretty bright rainbow colors with blues and reds and pinks … unicorns, some pirate flags and the octopus.”

-- Maegan Ward, Figpickels

Up north in Hayden, kite-flying is also soaring in popularity, says recreation coordinator Zack DiMattio. For years, the city has hosted the annual Kite Festival at Broadmoore Park near Honeysuckle and Atlas Road.

“It’s been growing every year—there were over 45 people last year,” DiMattio said. “It’s a great family event, it’s fun and it’s free.”

DiMattio says participants range from toddlers to seniors and vie for prizes offered by event sponsors.

“We’ve been fortunate over the years. For whatever reason, Mother Nature has cooperated and it always seems to be windy for the festival.”

Held in April, organizers say they will definitely be back in 2020.

“It’s an event the whole family can participant in—it draws a lot of attention,” DiMattio says.

Flyers can enter a range of categories including best homemade kite, longest tail, highest flight and, DiMattio’s favorite, best crash-and-burn.

“It’s kind of ironic that we give an award for the unfortunate crashing of a kite, but we’ve had some spectacular wrecks,” he said.

Some participants pull out all the stops engineering their own kites.

“It’s fun to see how creative people get,” he says. “We’ve had some mocked up like airplanes and others that are several decks high. Kites have definitely evolved so you’re seeing some crazy and creative ones with a lot of ingenuity.”