Henderson Lake Park is the place to be this weekend, as the 23rd Annual Lethbridge Rotary Dragon Boat Festival returns to southern Alberta.
According to organizers, the event also features live entertainment, a KidZone, food trucks, vendors, a beverage garden, the traditional Lion Dance and Rose Ceremony to honour cancer survivors.
Event Co-Director Paul Henderson says planning for this year’s festival has been ongoing since last year’s event.
“It should be a great year,” adds Henderson. “We have a total of 74 teams coming in.”
Opening Ceremonies start Friday at 6 p.m. “They will open with a lady that sings O Canada. She speaks Blackfoot, English and French. That’s how she performs O Canada. It’s quite a tribute,” Henderson notes.
With the Lion Dance, the “waking of the lion” happens Friday night, and the “putting the lion to sleep” happens Sunday during closing ceremonies, adds Henderson.
“The significance is, it just goes back hundreds of years in the Chinese history of the whole boat festivals that happen in China and Indochina,” Henderson explains. “It’s an amazing occurrence to see.”
The Dragon Boat Festival is a great event to bring the community together, Henderson notes. “It’s a real team building event. If you’ve ever dragon boated, you’ve got to be functioning as a team or you don’t go anywhere.”
Recognizing the multicultural nature of Lethbridge is also very important to the festival, and its organizers, says Henderson. “Whether it be the Chinese culture, but also the Blackfoot. And the overall community impact.”
According to Henderson, the Lethbridge Dragon Boat Festival is one of the starting festivals of the year for dragon boating.
It’s also a great event, in terms of what the Rotary clubs have done. “They’re the main driving force in the event,” Henderson adds.
The festival is not a huge fundraiser for the Rotary clubs, but some of the proceeds go back to local food banks. “Each one of the Rotary clubs has their own projects they designate money for,” says Henderson.
“It’s mainly meant as a community building activity for the clubs.”
For more information about the festival visit online at lethbridgedragonfest.ca.
