Phil Broder
Phil Broder had last flown a kite as a kid.
Then, some three decades ago, he happened to pass a kite festival in Chicago and decided to check it out. Ten years later, he asked some friends how to make kites, marking the beginning of a whole new career.
“I always tell them, ‘They created a monster,’” Broder said.
His relationship with kites quickly deepened.
He became the editor for Kiting Magazine, a writer for KiteLife and is now an event planner for the Keystone Kiters. When not at his day job at a tech company, he runs his kitemaking business, Fly Market Kitemaking Supply, operated above the garage next to his home in Mechanicsburg.
Through his business, which launched in 2014, Broder helps bring people’s artistic visions to life. It also attracts buyers for reasons beyond building kites, as his supplies have been used for productions like the San Francisco Opera, as well as for LARP (live action role play) weapons, drones and cosplay.
Broder does not think of himself as much of an artist, rather more of an art thief as he finds art that he thinks would look good on a kite. He draws inspiration from designs like stained glass artwork from the Jersey Shore, an aquarium logo in Cape Town, South Africa, and his last dog, Baker.
The kite he’s most known for, a Perry the Platypus “Agent P” design, was inspired by a stranger’s shirt while on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. Broder recognized his nephew’s favorite cartoon character and thought, “I could make that fly.”
Broder disagrees with the idea that kites are only for kids. For him, kitemaking is a form of stress relief and gives him an outlet to give back to others. He often finds himself at the Ocean City boardwalk to fly his kites, and he’ll hand the string to people. When they start to smile and gush over a kite they’ve never seen before, it creates a heartwarming moment.
When the time calls for it, Broder dedicates his skills and global network of professional kite-makers to helping people.
“In 2019, my sister was dying of cancer. I got 50-some friends together—some of the best kite-makers in the world—and I said, ‘I want to raise some money,” he said. “And there’s nothing else I can do for her. This is the power I have.”
In the end, they raised about $45,000.
“I was absolutely floored,” he said. “Did it keep my sister alive? No, but it is something that I did, and it helped a little bit.”
Broder also helped raise $5,000 for the Ukrainian Kite Association after war broke out in that country, and the money ended up being used to buy food and help people leave.
“Year after year, he challenges himself,” said Phil’s wife, Carly. “He’s dedicated to expanding people’s views on what a kite is and its cultural and historical significance.”
When Broder got into kitemaking, he didn’t think it would give him the chance to work with well-known actors like Brett Goldstein and Amy Adams.
However, earlier this year, he was cast as technical advisor for a scene in the upcoming movie, “At the Sea.” Broder and his friend taught Goldstein how to fly a quadlined kite at a kite festival in Newport, R.I. He then met and spoke with Adams on the movie set in Boston.
When the film comes out, you may even get a glimpse of Broder.
“When you see the movie, there will be a giant whale kite,” he said. “I’ll be standing under that.”
While the whale kite is not his, he flew his own kites and had about three others up in the air.
Broder’s active role in the kiting community has brought him and his wife across the globe to enjoy kite festivals year-round.
Committing themselves to honoring people, their cultures, and the history of kites, they always take the time to know the local community, make friends and share the joy of kites.
Currently, Broder has a kite in the works for a festival in Malta, and his creations are competing in the big national convention this year.
“People will say it’s just kites, that’s kid stuff—it’s not,” Broder said. “It’s more than that.”
For more information on Fly Market Kitemaking Supply, visit www.flymarketkites.com or email at [email protected].
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