Vancouver’s Concord Dragon Boat Festival revises summer plans

Organizers have found a compromise after the annual Concord Dragon Boat Festival in Vancouver was cancelled due to a conflict with the FIFA World Cup.

Dragon Boat BC says a downsized version of the event is coming in 2026 after security concerns and restrictions on cultural and sporting events within a certain radius of BC Place during the FIFA World Cup forced its cancellation.

The announcement left paddlers wondering what would be next.

This week, Dragon Boat BC unveiled its 2026 race calendar, reviving the festival in a form “like no other” year.

Operations Director Dominic Lai says the events will run from May until September.

In July, one dragon boater told The Leader Spirit that nothing could replace the feeling, fun and joy of the Concord festival, but Lai hopes six smaller events come close.

“When we realized this wasn’t going to be able to happen, all of our partners and ourselves approached it in a practical way. We knew we wanted to find a way to deliver good community benefit,” said Lai.

The half-dozen smaller dragon boat events will host races in Vancouver and festivals in Harrison Lake and Richmond.

The main event — a summer regatta — will be held on Aug. 22 in False Creek.

“Throughout the process, there have been ups, there’s been downs,” said Lai. “But we have worked really closely with everyone to really focus on the one thing that matters to us most of all, as a non-profit, which is our community — and bringing them together.”

Additional races and events will be announced in the new year. And the festival is expected to return to its normal schedule in 2027.