Castles & Kites Day in Bodega Bay

The weather looks promising for tomorrow's Castles & Kites Festival in Bodega Bay! The forecast calls for mostly sunny with highs in the 60s. It's currently a little windy but that's perfect for kite-flying, isn't it!

The 6th annual festival takes place Saturday, April 24, from 11 am to 3 pm on the beach at Doran Regional Park. It's hosted by Sonoma County Regional Parks Foundation as well as two local Bodega Bay shops, Candy & Kites and Second Wind.

It's great fun for the entire family! The skies will be filled with colorful kites. Watch the stunt kite demonstrations or fly your own. If you're just getting started, the local shops will have booths there selling everything you need.

Expert sand artists will be creating huge castles and sculptures. If kids want to build their own, the parks department will have a supply of shovels and buckets on-hand to share.


You can see some of our photos and read about last year's event here.

Doran Park is located at 201 Doran Beach Road, Bodega Bay, CA. The event is free but the park entrance fee is $6 per car.

Castles & Kites Festival in Bodega Bay

The Castle & Kites Festival in Bodega Bay was very windy. Good for the kites but not so good for the castles, judging by the number of entries. But we still had a blast. We hooked up with a group of family and friends, assembled a delicious picnic, and enjoyed a wonderful day at the beach. (Click on the photos to enlarge them.)

We picked up smoked turkey sandwiches from Pelican Plaza Grocery & Deli (I think they make the best deli sandwiches in town), packed them with our homemade fruit salad, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and other picnic goodies, and drove down to Doran Regional Park, locally known as Doran Beach in Bodega Bay.

It was extremely windy but, thanks to my daughter’s fast action, we were fortunate enough to secure our favorite sheltered picnic table on the beach. Doran has about half a dozen tables protected by curved concrete-type walls that provide excellent windbreaks. Each table has its own barbecue pit too, although we didn’t use ours this time. (I actually had a birthday party at this same favorite table a few years ago.)


We brought a gorgeous kite I’d received as a gift from my dear friend Peggy. It’s shaped like a big dragon in bright pink, orange, and yellow, with purple streamers hanging off the wings.





The sky was filled with beautiful kites of all colors, shapes and sizes including a cute fish kite that looked sort of like Little Nemo, and a brown teddy bear kite. There were also stunt flyers zooming their powerful kites over the breaking waves.





There weren’t very many sand castle entries, probably due to the high winds. But we were impressed by those who braved the elements and built massive, detailed castles with towers, windows, winding staircases, and motes.







There was even a woman who sculpted a dog and accompanying dog house. He looked a little like Snoopy but his dog house said “Duke.”



The parks department provided tubs, buckets and tools for castle building.



There were a number of booths set up representing local businesses including Candy & Kites, Second Wind, and the regional parks dept.

If you missed this event but love to fly kites, Candy & Kites says they offer “Friday Night Fun Flies,” every Friday night through the end of September at Doran Beach. Of course you can go fly on your own anytime too, but the Candy & Kites folks are real friendly and offer lots of helpful tips.

Here’s more information about the places I mentioned. And to answer a reader’s question, no I don’t get paid for mentioning any of these businesses. I just love sharing the terrific resources we’ve discovered living here in Bodega Bay.

Pelican Plaza Grocery & Deli (no website)
Pelican Plaza Center at 1400 Hwy 1, Bodega Bay, (707) 875-2522

Doran Regional Park (Doran Beach)
South of Bodega Bay at 201 Doran Beach Road. Directions: Hwy. 1, one mile south of Bodega Bay on Doran Park Road, just past Bodega Harbour Golf Course.

Second Wind
They sell kites, toys, candy, locally made chocolates and more.
1805 N Highway 1, Bodega Bay, (707) 875-9463

Candy & Kites
They sell kites, flags, banners and spinners, salt water taffy, and more.
1415 Coast Highway 1 in Bodega Bay, across from the Pelican Plaza.
Open daily 10:00am - 5:00pm. 707-875-3777

Bird Walk in Bodega Bay

Last week I wrote about watching The Birds. This week I’ll write about real bird watching opportunities here in Bodega Bay. This is a bird watcher's paradise! The Audubon Society says “Bodega Bay is probably the hottest birding spot in Sonoma County. More rare birds have been spotted here than in any other area in the County.” It’s not unusual to see groups of bird watchers with their cameras, binoculars, or telescopes perched on tripods, along the marshes, harbor and bay.

We have a wonderful new path that connects Doran Beach Regional Park and Bird Walk Coastal Access Park. It runs from Doran Beach, along Doran Park Marsh and tidal channels, over a spiffy new 110' bridge that spans Cheney Creek, and connects to the Bird Walk Park up on the levees.


A Sonoma County Parks press release says “Doran Beach Regional Park offers a wide variety of coastal recreation opportunities, attracting 300,000 annual visits from people enjoying the spectacular views, two miles of sandy beach, and camping, fishing, and boat launching facilities. Bird Walk Coastal Access is a revitalized saltwater marsh offering a unique opportunity for coastal wildlife viewing.”


The popular one-mile Bird Walk path loops around 26’ high, 10’ wide levees that were constructed to hold spoils from the dredging of Bodega Bay in 1980. In the 1990s, the County improved the two resulting ponds for the benefit of bird and wildlife habitat and they continue to flourish. (We lived in Petaluma for 14 years before moving here and so it reminds me a little of Shollenberger Park.)


The 14-acre marshland area fills with water in winter (usually) and is frequented by waterfowl and shore birds. During a recent walk, we saw a great white heron, snowy egrets, Canadian geese, mallard ducks, seagulls, and little ones that looked like miniature sandpipers. I’ll have to look them up in my Audubon book.

From this elevated path, you’ll also see gorgeous views of Doran Marsh, Doran Beach Park, Bodega Bay and Harbor, and Bodega Head.

Last weekend, volunteers planted 200 native plants as part of an on-going habitat restoration effort. I've also seen them pulling out the non-native, invasive ice plants. If you're interested in helping, check this out.

I’m happy to report dogs are allowed on leashes and most people stick to the rules. It’s an easy walk and our small dogs love it.

To access this trail, there’s a 10-space parking lot right off Hwy. 1 at the south end of town (between Smith Brothers Rd. and Doran Park Rd.), or you can start at the other end by entering through Doran Beach Park. Have fun!