(From left) Siblings Isabelle, 4, and Sebastian Smith, 2, run after bubbles made by bubble artist Brandon Myles at the 3rd Annual Avy’s Sunshine Kite Festival community event at (Old) City Park in Dallas Saturday, June 20, 2026.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
Terrie Williams from Seagoville looks as granddaughters Ahzani, 4, and Marley Campos, 6, decorate their kites at the 3rd Annual Avy’s Sunshine Kite Festival community event at (Old) City Park in Dallas Saturday, June 20, 2026.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
Attendees fly their kites at the 3rd Annual Avy’s Sunshine Kite Festival community event at (Old) City Park in Dallas Saturday, June 20, 2026.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
Naima Hill (right) hugs Simba Musarurwa during the 3rd Annual Avy’s Sunshine Kite Festival community event at (Old) City Park in Dallas Saturday, June 20, 2026. Hill honored the loss of her daughter by creating the community event centered on remembrance and connection.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
Colorful kites took off as families gathered at City Park on Saturday. Children doodled on kites, sipped lemonade and strung beads onto bracelets.
The scene resembled any summer weekend outing, but these families came with a purpose. They were paying tribute to lost loved ones as part of the third annual Avy’s Sunshine Kite Festival.
“It’s a place that people can come together and celebrate all of their lost loved ones, and at the same time connect with each other,” Avy’s Sunshine Tribe founder Naïma Hill said. “Hopefully, they leave feeling less alone in their loss.”
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Hill founded the event to honor her daughter, Aveline “Avy” Hill, who died at 22 months old in a car crash. Looking for a way to grieve, Hill stumbled upon a festival in Guatemala where people fly kites to remember their ancestors.
Hill said she modeled Avy’s Sunshine Kite Festival after it because the ritual felt more meaningful than common platitudes about grief.
Saturday’s attendees echoed that feeling.
Remembering through art
Families crowded tables set up with activities around the park. At one, Quinton Random decorated kites with his three sons. He was there to remember his brother, who died two weeks earlier in a motorcycle accident.
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“Normally, when people die, everybody just moves on,” Random said. “Stuff like this is a way to remember and acknowledge it.”
On the other side of the park, Scott McGraw helped his granddaughter, Lyla Nguyen, 3, spell her name with beads. He said he was there to remember his mother, Gaylia Fitzgerald, who died two days prior.
“It’s just a nice way to honor people and to celebrate their memories and not necessarily have to mourn,” McGraw said.
Memory was key to Patrice McConnell, too. She said she brought her daughter, 5, for a fun weekend outing. It also served as a way to remind her daughter of McConnell’s cousin, Greta McConnell, who died of ALS last year.
“It’s really important that I try to keep her legacy alive,” McConnell said.
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Building a village
For Saturday’s event, Avy’s Sunshine Tribe partnered with other organizations that felt inspired by its cause. That meant free food, lemonade, activities and other resources for attendees.
“We want everybody that has experienced a loss or just wants to come out and experience community to be able to come out here,” Hill said.
Child Poverty Action Lab provided free food and screened families for public benefits programs, such as SNAP. A friend of Hill’s, Keith McKinnon, ran a booth that included suicide prevention resources.
McKinnon was Hill’s coworker when Avy died, the same week that his son, Daniel McKinnon, died at 16 years old by suicide. It drew them closer together, he said, and now they mutually support each other.
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Hill supported McKinnon’s suicide prevention efforts, which include Daniel’s Garden, a community garden created in honor of McKinnon’s son. In turn, he supported her cause to build a playground in City Park, in the Cedars neighborhood. Proceeds from the festival via donation or T-shirt sales will go toward building the playground, Hill said.
As clouds covered the sky around 11 a.m., a wind began to pick up. Children launched their kites into the sky. Attached to many were ribbons bearing the names of lost loved ones. Some wrote names on the kites themselves. Others drew rainbows and butterflies on theirs.
Kids then watched the kites rise and take off on strong breeze.