It wasn’t hard to get things off the ground at the inaugural Kite Festival on Onset Beach Saturday afternoon.

Festival co-organizer Paul Ciccotelli said he and Onset Bay Association President Eleanor Martin worked on the festival off and on since June. Ciccotelli said more people attended the festival than he had expected.

“It’s small, it’s the first time,” Ciccotelli said. “We went online and looked up some of the other activities other kite festivals have had and stuff, but I don’t really feel like they are too much further ahead than we are.”

Ciccotelli said the festival cost the association nothing to put on because festival partner Eric Guillroy, owner of Cape Cod Collectibles in East Wareham, came down to the beach free of charge with more than 1200 kites to sell. The association also had 100 free kites for kids to draw on and fly.

“I want[ed] no kids to be kite-less today,” Ciccotelli said. “If they want[ed] a kite, we [had] kites for them. If they want[ed] to buy some nice kites from Cape Cod Collectibles, that’s great, too.”

Wareham resident Katie Wandry brought her son Aiden Alden, 8, and his friend Gabe, 8, to the festival. She said it was the first time she had ever flown a kite, but “got it up there pretty high.”

“Beginner’s luck,”she said. “I think they should have food … but, other than that, I think it’s pretty awesome.”

Kenny Roark, 13, of New Bedford, said he was at the event because his father knows Guillroy and wanted to show off some of his kites. Roark said he likes flying kites, but knows it can be frustrating for less experienced flyers.

“Today, it’s okay [to fly a kite],” Roark said. “It’s hard because the wind … dies down and not even five minutes later you’ll get a big wind and the kite will come right back down. It’s kind of difficult.”

Ciccotelli said he hoped this would be the first of many kite festivals to come, and that he already has some ideas about how to make any future kite festivals even better.

“I would like to have the kids’ stuff a little more organized,” Ciccotelli said.

Ciccotelli also said there were several kites he saw that he liked, but the “coolest” one, by far, was a replica of the Pilgrim ship, “Mayflower.”

“The ship [is] full sail, and then it’s got a couple wings off the side,” Ciccotelli said. “It’s just a giant ship. And it’s aerodynamic.”