Dragon boat racers past the finish line

Today I hauled myself out of bed earlier than usual (for a Saturday) so I could maximize my day at the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival. Or, to put it another way: I didn’t want to miss a chance to gorge myself on festival food while absorbing the immensely-positive crowd vibes that make this amazing event a true community event.

Also: I like dragon boat races.

This is the 21st year for the Vancouver Dragon Boat Festival, and there are 180 dragon boat teams—formed by friends, work colleagues, and hundreds of every-day Vancouverites—in the competition. The races are broken down into different divisions and continue, one after another, throughout the day, beginning at 8am and running until about 5pm (the Festival continues until 6pm).

Both races and Festival take place next door to Downtown Vancouver: The races happen on False Creek and the Festival is at Science World, just across the street from the SkyTrain Main Street/Science World Station.

Racers dock after their race

I love how happy the racers are just to be there, to be part of the race. Oh, they want to win, of course, but this is sportsmanship at its finest: When they trade off the boats—the same boats are used by multiple teams—they laugh and praise each other and exchange high-fives.
And I love the individual touches people bring to their teams, like the dude in the bunny ears:
I spent half my time at the Festival watching the racers and the races; I spent the other half (as previously mentioned) eating an unholy amount of food on skewers and strolling the Festival’s many booths—including the Aluminum Chef Competition and cooking demonstrations—and listening to music at the World Beat Stage.

Long view of the World Beat Stage and Festival grounds

You can catch the second day of the Festival tomorrow, Sunday, June 21. And take Dad; it would be a unique way to spend Father’s Day!