Festival At a Glance

Festival Dates: Friday, July 6th | Saturday, July 7th | Sunday, July 8th

Location: Maffeo Sutton Park, Nanaimo, BC

 


Charity of Choice: Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation


Features 

 

  • Free Admission

  • A non-profit, family friendly Festival

  • 82 paddling teams (2500 paddlers) from across North America

  • Candles of Courage - Friday evening candlelight tribute to cancer survivors and victims

  • Sunday Breast Cancer Survivor Challenge and traditional Carnation Ceremony

  • Live entertainment throughout the Festival venue

  • Food Vendors, featuring international cuisine

  • Exhibitions and great shopping opportunities

  • Free downtown parking, with bike parking available on site

  • Labatt Beer Garden – the best on the West Coast race circuit!


 The Festival

 

  • The Save On Foods Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival was founded in 2003

     

  • 2012 marks the 10th Annual Save On Foods Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival

  • The organization of the first Festival was led by Alex Marriott

  • Teams participating in 2010: 82

  • Now Nanaimo’s largest Festival, providing an annual economic benefit to our community of more than 1.2 million dollars

  • The Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival Society has contributed nearly $500,000 to purchase diagnostic equipment for our local hospital

  • New race every 8 minutes throughout race days on Saturday and Sunday

  • More than 25,000 attendees over 3 days

  • More than 200 volunteers are instrumental in staging the Festival


 Dragon Boating

 

  • Part of a larger Chinese cultural tradition that dates back 2,400 years

  • A Dragon Boat is a slim 44’ racer with a dragon’s head at the bow and a tail at the stern

  • Each Dragon Boat holds 20 paddlers, a drummer and a steersperson

  • Dragon Boat racing is widely used internationally as a corporate, team building component for many large organizations

  • The average paddler is a middle aged, educated and affluent professional

  • Dragon Boat racing is one of the fastest growing international team sports in the world

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