Ancient tradition meets modern celebration as dragon boats return to Victoria's Inner Harbour

A summertime staple will splash its way back into the Inner Harbour this weekend when the Canada Dry Victoria Dragon Boat Festival presented by Fairway Market hits the water.

The festival bills itself as “a celebration of sport, culture, diversity, and community for everyone in the heart of Victoria.”

The two-day, apex-of-the-season paddle party has been an annual highlight—with the exception of the pandemic years of 2020 when the waterfest was cancelled outright, and 2021, when it was restricted to land-only activities.

Organized each year by the nonprofit Victoria Dragon Boat Festival Society, the eponymous event offers no end of reasons to spend the day outside, from the races themselves to food and drink to music and dance.

“The Society brings Chinese and local cultures together and celebrates them through racing, cultural demonstrations, and local artist performances,” the Festival Society says in its release.

Thousands of spectators will line the Inner Harbour to watch 30+ teams compete in international-standard dragon boats that will jet across the water in 250-metre races from Laurel Point toward the Ship Point pier.

Combining athleticism with Chinese culture, teams of up to 16 rowers work to the beat of an onboard drummer to establish a rhythm as they stroke in sync in canoe-like boats, which feature dragon heads and tails.

The festival kicks off Aug. 8 with an exhibit, fittingly, in Chinatown, which was instrumental in Victoria’s dragon boat evolution. It was the city’s Chinese business community that pushed for a dragon boat exhibition race to mark Hong Kong Day at the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games.

That was eight years after the sport was introduced to most Canadians—and to many of those viewing from abroad—at Vancouver’s Expo 86—centuries after it had been established as a Chinese cultural sport.

Way back when

‍ Legendarily, the races began more than 2,000 years ago, when a group of admirers set out by boat to either save or find the body of exiled Chinese poet and philosopher Qu Yuan, who had committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River. From that point, races were held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar year.

The exhibit, entitled “Dragons On The Coast: Victoria’s Dragon Boat Story,” will be held at the Victoria Chinatown Museum from Aug. 8 to Sept. 7 (Thursdays to Sundays) and will feature archival materials, including medals from the last three decades, celebrating Victoria’s dragon boat history.

A few days before the fest, Harbour Air flew in the original Expo 86 teak dragon boat head and paddle used to start the races in Vancouver. The Festival Society’s Dominic Lai says the boat head is an example of original equipment that is shared or pooled.

“It's not individualized to a team, so all the equipment is used to start different races,” he says.

“So, that same equipment would have been used by all the different teams racing for about 10 or 20 years in the entire region.”

Linking the event back to its Chinatown roots, organizers say they hope the retrospective exhibit encourages visitors “to discover some of the stories behind the dragon boat’s roots,” the Festival Society says.

Opening ceremonies are Saturday morning

Traditional Chinese dancers will help celebrate Saturday’s official opening ceremony at 10am, and the Inner Harbour will be alive with races roughly every 15 minutes and all kinds of partner booths and cultural activities all day.

Performances from Chinese Dance Victoria, the Victoria Chinese Opera Club, and the Esquimalt Singers and Dancers—among many more—will hit the Harbour Air Stage. Because it’s Victoria—Victorians love their food trucks—there will be food trucks.

Vancouver Island Brewing will have a pop-up bar next to the stage, with Ship Point opened to visitors who will be able “to sit and raise a glass to summer while watching the races come down the course on one of Victoria’s biggest licensed waterfront patios,” organizers say.

Long-standing support

Canada Dry has been the title sponsor for more than a decade, while Fairway Market has been a major supporter since the beginning.

“They (Fairway Market owners Don and Doug Yuen) believe in supporting the community,” says the Festival Society’s Lai. “They've always been a strong supporter of Dragon Boat since the very, very beginning.

“The important thing to note is that while corporations are supporting it, these are local branches,” he says.

“So, while it looks like there's giant coin, it’s fairly community-based in terms of where the support actually comes from at the end of the day.”