Behind 50-year-old Mark Blattel whirl octopi, teddy bears, penguins, clowns and worms. Chirping toys and children gather round him, looking up at myriad animal-shaped kites that hang on the ceiling at the Rehoboth Toy & Kite Company in Rehoboth Beach.
For seven years, Blattel has been the stock manager for the store, which sells almost everything that flies, glides or twirls.
“My hobby was flying kites and I was in-between jobs,” said Blattel, a veteran of the Coast Guard. After attending a job fair at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center, the father of two found a position that coupled his passion with a paycheck: working with kites.
“If I’m not busy shuffling stock, I go out and fly,” said Blattel.
Each week, he demonstrates kite flying on the beach to drum up business for the shop, which is open year-round.
Wind and weather conditions permitting, Blattel tromps out to the beach before the lifeguards arrive at 10 a.m. or after they leave at 5 p.m., times when flying kites is allowed.
Over the years, Blattel said, he has made many friends as a kite salesman. Returning beach visitors often ask for him specifically.
Some days during the high season, he said, 50 or more kites fly out of the store and into the hands of enthusiasts.
Blattel is originally from Corona, Calif. He moved to the area after serving in the Coast Guard and being stationed at Indian River and Cape May. He decided to stay.
“I like the area. You get that three or four months of madness, but after that it’s nice and quiet. I like that. I fell in love with the area,” he said.
But as a downtown merchant and Milton resident, Blattel said he’s seen a lot of change over the past decade or so.
“After Labor Day, they used to roll up the sidewalks, but now we have the jazz festival, Punkin Chunkin, the Christmas parade and the Sea Witch Festival,” he said. “Over the past 10 years, I’d say it’s more of a year-round community. If not here, definitely within driving distance.”
Working in a toy store has its share of funny moments, often involving adults who don’t know how to be kids.
Unknowing customers have occasionally walked into the store’s plate glass windows, Blattel said with a laugh. When he’s on the beach and the wind dies down, he said ready assistants unfamiliar with kite flying try to help him. Good intentions aside, they often get tangled in the lines or get accidentally hit with sinking parafoils - which are harmless, he said.
Parafoils, he said, “are adultproof” because they are soft and have no wooden parts.
“There’s nothing in it to break,” he said.
When he’s not demonstrating kites or chatting with customers, Blattel sometimes meets up with his wife, Pamela, who is a seamstress just up Rehoboth Avenue at Carlton’s department store.
One of his sons, who is stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, followed Blattel’s footsteps into the military. The other one, he said, also lives in Texas and works as a store manager.
With the 20-somethings away, Blattel enjoys carpentry and kitemaking, when he’s not at the store working 40-plus hours a week.
Whether at home or at the store, Blattel enjoys tinkering with the kites, designing new ones, trying out new ideas and testing them to see if his ideas will fly.
