South Lake Union Park will be packed on June 14th for the annual Seattle Dragon Boat Festival. The day includes races, food, music, and live performances.
SEATTLE — It’s a modern sport with ancient roots.
Dragon boat racing was born more than two thousand years ago in China.
The tradition with deep cultural meaning is celebrated around the world and in Seattle with an annual racing festival. This year’s Seattle Dragon Boat Festival is slated for Saturday, June 14, at South Lake Union Park.
The races will run on the south end of the lake with a view of the Seattle skyline and Space Needle across the finish line.
Getting in the water
A dragon boat weighs about 600 pounds.
It holds 22 people, including 20 paddlers, one person who’s called “the caller,” who sits out front and hits the drum, and “the tiller,” or the person who steers.
According to the International Dragon Boat Federation, boats are traditionally made out of teak wood. The boat, which originated in Southern China, is commonly called a “Chinese Dragon Boat.”
The federation states that the boat’s main distinguishing features are a mythical Asian-style dragon head attached to the prow (front); a stylized dragon’s tail attached to the Stern (rear), with dragon scales painted along the sides of the boat.
“I’ve been paddling for maybe 20 – 25 years, said Michelle Locke, now the land operations director for the festival. “I have a dragon tattoo. One of my co-workers said, ‘Oh, you like dragons? You need to come out and go Dragon boating.”
Locke tried and has been hooked ever since. She’s a proud member of the Seattle Flying Dragons – a club that is open for others to join.
“Dragon boating is a really great community,” Locke said. “It really is for everybody. We have paddlers who have various different abilities.”
Some participants are new to the racing style, and others are seasoned paddlers. Some paddlers are deaf or blind. Others are battling and surviving cancer.
Festival race day features a special tribute to cancer survivors.
No matter who’s paddling, the goal is to conquer
“It’s the greatest sport in the world, and there’s no other sport like it,” said Koichi Kitazumi, also a Seattle Flying Dragon member.
Kitazumi has been paddling since the festival launched in 1996. Now, he paddles proudly as the race director. He said that everyone working together goes beyond the water.
“[It’s] very easy to translate that over into real life,” Kitazumi said. “Where timing, working together, and collaboration towards a common goal.”
Race day is only made possible by volunteers. Visit the website to learn more.
Opening ceremonies on June 14 start at 8 a.m. and racing will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The day will be filled with not only race action but also food vendors, music, live performances, kids’ activities, and more.
If you’re interested in becoming a Seattle Flying Dragon, click here.
A brief history of dragon boat racing
In 278 BC, poet Qu Yuan was falsely accused of treason by political rivals. According to the International Dragon Boat Federation, he was banished from China.
As a final act of protest against the government, Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River and drowned.
Fishermen raced their boats into the water to recover his body while beating drums and throwing rice dumplings into the river to keep the fish away from Yuan.
More than 2,000 years ago, on almost every continent, the poet’s heroics are still honored through dragon boat racing.