Vancouver’s Dragon Boat Festival gets underway

It’s the biggest of its kind in Canada and a huge draw for tourists in Vancouver. The Dragon Boat Festival gets underway Friday, running all weekend.

Organizers say this year, more than 200 teams from nine countries around the world will be taking part.

Dominic Lai, the senior development, marketing, and operations director for Dragon Boat BC, tells 1130 NewsRadio that last year’s event created more than $16 million in local economic activity, and he’s hoping for a repeat this year.

“That’s everything from something super obvious like our visiting teams, we are hosting 3,000 to 4,000 non-local people, they’re going to be staying at hotels. They’re going to be spending in restaurants. Our food trucks, all of them, are local. Our vendors, all of those are local. All of our suppliers — they’re from the area. There’s a lot of benefit for our community.”

He adds there’s an incredible history to this festival that everyone may not know about.

“Dragon boating in Canada actually started right here on False Creek in 1986 because of Expo. We’ve grown from local roots to become one of the global flagship dragon boat events. Vancouver is a city where there are a lot of outdoor influences, and getting out on the water is something everyone enjoys. I think beyond that, people are looking for authenticity.”

If being down by the water is not of interest to you, Lai has a solution.

“On land, we’re moving to our new home at Concord Pacific Place, just to improve accessibility and also just to give us a little bit more space to grow the event. We’re excited to have local artists on our main stage.”

There are also a number of cultural scenes for people to check out, including the Chinatown, Pride, Indigenous, and Breast Cancer Paddler pavilions.

Organizers say part of the reason things have moved this year is due to Seawall closures along False Creek.

The festival, which runs until June 22, is expected to draw more than 200,000 people.