Do you have COVID-19 cabin fever? This Morro Bay shop offers a cure
These days, when someone tells you to go fly a kite, they may not be mad at you. Instead, they may be suggesting a cool, physically distanced way to combat coronavirus-related cabin fever.
That’s especially true at Beachfront Kites, Surreys and More in Morro Bay, which has been selling kites for decades — and telling people how to fly them.
On one day in early July, shop employee T.C. Coss worked with a tourist couple and their daughter — guiding them away from a more complex and expensive kite toward a simpler model that was better suited to the skill set of a young first-timer.
As he explained the difference between one-line and two-line kites, he shared some advice.
“I have young grandsons, and I had to learn this the hard way,” he told the customers. “Unless you really like chasing kites down the beach ... just take 6 to 8 feet of line, tie it to the bridle, and put it around your wrist or a belt loop.”
While the hardest part is getting the kite in the air, business co-owner Shaun Farmer said, “reeling it back is tough, too.”
“It’s also the least fun part,” his wife, Beachfront co-owner Lori Leetham, said.
“We only try to sell kites that fly, not the really cute or temperamental ones,” she said.
The Front Street shop doesn’t sell the traditional diamond-shaped kites “because they don’t fly very well,” Leetham explained. “At least 75% of the kites we sell are easy flyers, super flyers.”
“And that’s why we have people come back here year after year,” Farmer added.
Another reason for the return customers, he said, is the shop’s customer service, which starts at the top with Farmer and Leetham.
“I tell the customers, ‘If you break it or lose a piece, bring it back and we’ll fix it,” Farmer explained. “I’d rather you had your kite fixed and go out and have fun.’ It’s all part of giving our customers a good experience.”
Morro Bay kite shop gets repeat customers
One of those return customers is Mark Clement, 66, of Paso Robles. He’s been buying kites from Beachfront for about a quarter century.
Clement started shopping there “when my kids were really small,” he said. Now his children range in age from 28 to 33.
Clement, a butcher who’s a retired agriculture teacher and former hang-gliding pilot and instructor, got hooked on kites as a kid after “a neighbor taught me how to make a diamond kite with balsa wood and paper.” Later, he moved up in the kite world, flying dragon kites and single-line Indian fighter kites with a friend in college.
Clement’s joy has been up in the air ever since, he said.
His family has an inside joke that when they go to Morro Bay, the kids tell him, “Dad, you can’t go to the kite shop yet. Can we make that the last stop?”
“I’m like a little kid in a toy shop (at Beachfront) … and if I get to talking to Mr. Farmer, I really get in trouble,” Clement acknowledged. “Before I know it, an hour goes by.”
Clement said kite flying is a wonderful, interactive family recreation and the people at Beachfront are “awesome.”
He choked up a bit as he related a cherished, kite-related memory.
A few years ago, he bought a new Delta Cone kite and took it to his hometown of Hanford. He said his “almost totally non-ambulatory mom Evelyn Clement, 92, and brother Calvert Clement, 78,” were outside in their wheelchairs, watching “baby brother” fly his new toy.
One by one, the master kite flyer let them hold onto the line with the kite soaring above..
“They were so excited!” recalled Mark Clement, noting that those beloved family members have since passed away. “My brother said he could really feel the force of the wind through the line.” That proves, he added, that “family groups of any age can enjoy flying kites together.”
With a little help and inspiration, Clement said, “even a person in ill health can enjoy flying a kite.”
Where, how to fly kites in SLO County
So, what is it about tossing something in the air and watching it soar up, up, up?
Farmer, 57, began working at Beachfront when he was a senior in high school and bought the shop in 1998 when then-owner and business founder Len Shockey wanted to retire.
Describing the kite-flying experience had Farmer tongue-tied briefly during a recent phone interview.
In his early days running Beachfront, “I had time to go out and fly in front of the shop,” he recalled. “No matter what kind of day it had been, flying a kite does something. It’s good for your soul. It takes your mind off of things. It’s an ideal thing for people to do.”
Kite flying doesn’t have to be from a beach, Farmer said, which is a good thing locally, since the only seaside spot in Morro Bay where kite flying is allowed is between the north side of Morro Rock and Morro Creek.
But there are many other options, he said. “You can fly from a soccer field, a football field, a parking lot.”
So-called “Dog Beach” in Cayucos is also a good spot, Farmer said.
Just avoid places where there are power lines or busy highways, he warned, since renegade kites can cause problems in those areas.
And keep an eye on the weather forecast. If lightning is predicted, put the kite-flying adventure on hold.
Especially during the coronavirus pandemic, when some activities are restricted, kite flying helped mental and physical health for many people, he said. The family-friendly activity can be calming and reassuring, somehow.
“Just to get outside is good” during these stressful times, Farmer said.
Not everybody hikes, bikes or does long-distancing running or climbing, he said, and “we’ve heard horror stories about people being cooped up too long.”
Flying a kite or renting a surrey helps shake that COVID-19 cabin fever.
The benefits for Farmer are great, too. “Watching a family get on the surrey and ride along the bay to Morro Rock, those people are so happy, especially the kids,” he said.
Leetham laughed, noting that after that long pedal, the kids are exhilarated, “but the parents can’t breathe” from the physical exertion.
Owning the store “hasn’t made us rich,” Farmer said, “but it’s the one of the happiest jobs in the county. It’s so colorful, easy on the eye, just a happy fun thing.”
Sure, Farmer and Leetham, who have five children and five grandchildren between them, hope to retire one day.
“But we’re good,” said Farmer, who also works a full-time job as a shop foreman and dispatcher for a car dealership. “I still enjoy it, after all these years. It makes me happy.”
COVID-19 brings concerns for business
The couple may be happy, but they’re also worried about what the COVID-19 pandemic may bring.
San Luis Obispo County’s coronavirus-related shutdown kept the shop closed for two months, which meant few spring break vacationers and no Morro Bay Kite Festival to launch the kite season in late April. Farmer founded the event.
“It really put us behind,” Farmer said.
“That being said, when we reopened over Memorial Day weekend, I thought business would be disastrous. Actually, it’s been an unbelievable summer,” he added, something he attributes to more people from metropolitan California areas taking day trips rather than weekend-or-longer vacations.
“By the time you spend $300 a night for the motel and feed the family,” there may not be much money left over to buy a kite or rent a surrey,” he said. “Now, they’re doing day trips, going to the beach, getting their fish and chips and thinking, ‘Let’s go fly a kite!’ ”
But with rollbacks of business reopenings, “now we’re in fear of having to close again,” Farmer said. “If they shut us down again now, we won’t be able to put any money away to get us through the winter.”
What Beachfront Kites, Surreys and More offers
Beachfront Kites, Surreys and More has between 300 and 500 kites, with most prices ranging from $5 to $100.
Leetham said the average price of a kite in the store is $30.
That’s the price for their “most popular” item, Farmer said. “It’s the Delta Wing, an easy flyer/super flyer with a long tail down the center and a tail on each wing tip.” The price includes “line and everything you need to get it in the air,” he said.
When the store stocks the more elaborate four-line kites, such as the Revolution Quad Line, those can cost from $279 to about $500, Farmer said.
The shop also rents surreys for either $20 or $30 an hour, depending on the size.
Two- and three-wheeled Italian trikes that hold two people are also available to rent for $20 an hour. The approximately 15 beach cruiser bikes in the shop rent for $10 an hour or $25 a day.
Beachfront Kites is located at 1108 Front St., at the bottom of the hill where Beach Street, Front and the Embarcadero converge.
For more information, call 805-772-0113.
This story was originally published July 31, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
