Proceeds from the event supports the educational programs of the center. Now in its 6th year, the festival has raised over $275,000 for the Center.
Earlier this year, the festival was named the Silver Award for Best Festival in the Southeast by the Southeast Festival and Events Association. Sponsors for the festival are Ingram Barge, American Commercial Barge Lines (ACBL), Marquette Transportation, Marine Systems Inc., WPSD, and News Talk 94.3.
The Center’s Executive Director, Julie Harris says, “We are excited to celebrating our 6th year of this community-wide event that brings thousands to the riverfront to enjoy the boat races. We love that we can host an event on the river and involve local businesses and organizations to raise important money for the educational programs of the Center. I encourage everyone to come out to enjoy one of the area’s most unique exciting events held at our riverfront.”
The Center’s Executive Director, Julie Harris says, “We are excited to celebrating our 6th year of this community-wide event that brings thousands to the riverfront to enjoy the boat races. We love that we can host an event on the river and involve local businesses and organizations to raise important money for the educational programs of the Center. I encourage everyone to come out to enjoy one of the area’s most unique exciting events held at our riverfront.”
The races will begin promptly at 9 am and run until approximately 2:30 pm with a 45 minute lunch break. The races are conducted in heats with three teams racing per heat, and each team will race a minimum of two times. The race course is 250 meters and boats race against the current.
Each team has 16 paddlers and one drummer. The drummer’s official purpose is to beat the drum to help keep their team paddling in sync. Teams who are most in sync, usually have the lowest times. The other purpose of the drummer is to build team spirit. Most teams have a theme and the drummer is usually dressed accordingly. During the lunch break, there will be a “drummer fashion show” where each team’s drummer walks the Wilson Stage “catwalk” showing off their costume to the festival crowd.
Last year’s grand prize winner, the Orthopedic Institute’s Bone Collectors are returning to defend their title. Trophies will be awarded to the top 3 teams and each paddler on the top teams will receive a medal. Additional awards will be for Best Dressed Drummer, Most Team Spirit, Best Team T-Shirt and Best Team Area. The People’s Choice award offers spectators and team supporters the opportunity to vote for their favorite team.
There will be food and drink vendors on hand all day. Some will serve breakfast items in the morning and then the selection at lunch is everything from BBQ, hotdogs, nachos, brats, ribs, funnel cakes and more. A Children’s area is available for the young kids and will include inflatables, face painting, balloon animals and more.
Entrance to the festival is free of charge. On Tuesday, Sept. 19th through Thursday, Sept. 21st, there will be practice sessions for all the teams from 4-7 pm at the riverfront. The public is welcome to come to the riverfront and watch those practice sessions.
At approximately 8:30 am on race day there will be an ancient race ritual, the Eye Dotting Ceremony which represents the awakening of the dragons from their slumber and is meant to galvanize their spirit for the upcoming races.
This year’s teams are sponsored by: Ingram Barge, ACBL, Marquette, MSI, US Bank, Pine Bluff Materials, CFSB, Bacon Farmer Workman, River Valley Ag Credit, WKCTC, WPSD, Baptist Health, Paducah Bank, Orthopedic Institute, Cross Fit Dig Deep, CSI, Paducah Running and Cycling, MAKO, Acees, KY Lake.com, Paducah Cigar Co, the CVB, Cook Coal Terminal and the Paducah Propeller Club.
Dragon boat racing started in China over 2,500 years ago and has long been their National Sport. In North America, it has grown from relative obscurity 20 years ago, to over 1,000 annual events with over 1,000,000 participants. Dragon boat racing is visually spectacular and easy to learn and anyone can do it, regardless of age, gender, or athletic ability. Furthermore, it is a sport where men and women compete together in an unbiased and fun environment. This exciting sport, now the fastest growing team sport in North America., has become an extremely popular team building activity for community organizations and corporations. The dragon boats are 40 foot long canoe-like boats with colorful dragon heads and tails.
This year 22 Dragons from Montreal Canada provide the dragon boats, professional steersmen, and all equipment for the event. They are one of North America’s largest Dragon Boat producers and operators.
You can visit the River Discovery Center at 117 South Water Street in downtown Paducah, or go to their website at www.riverdiscoverycenter.org for more information about the center and the Dragon Boat festival.
