On June 15th 2012 Vancouver will be hosting the 24th Annual Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival.
This is a hugely popular event that has become something of an Institution down at False Creek and nearby Granville Island over the years.
Not only can you watch 100s of people taking part in the actual races themselves, there will be plenty of live music and vendors to really make this a fantastic occasion. The festivities will officially open up with an exciting opening ceremony that encompasses the Spiritual aspect of the occasion.
Vancouver has had a long history with Dragon Boat Racing, this is mainly due to the long standing relationship between Canada and China over the years. Since the 1940s where Vancouver was preparing for its 60th Jubilee anniversary, the idea was to create a Dragon Boat to commemorate the occasion, but it was also created to acknowledge that the City would be known as the Gateway to Asia, what better way to promote this than by having a dragon boat festival. Unfortunately the idea was temporarily shelved, it would finally come to fruition for the arrival of Expo 1986.
At Expo 1986, Vancouver would finally let the Dragon Boat festival see the light of day, and it was at this milestone in the history of Vancouver that the Festival was to be born.
So please head down False Creek and get immersed in this great festival, the designs of the boats (which traditionally are decorated colorfully with heads of dragons at the front of the boat and the back end showing the tail), you will likely get a sense of the cultural, spiritual and meaning behind the Dragon Boats.
