In less than two months, it’ll be paddles-up on the Glenmore Reservoir as the Dragon Boat Festival returns for their annual August races.

With the holding of the Calgary Dragon Boat Society’s banquet on Dragon Boat Festival Day—a Chinese UNESCO-recognized holiday that celebrates yearly the attempted rescue of Zhou dynasty poet and politician Qu Yuan on the Miluo River by boaters—the race is literally and metaphorically on until Aug. 9.

Danny Ng, organizer for the Calgary Dragon Boat Festival and a co-chair for the society, said that Calgarians are realizing the race and festival is back.

“Now post Covid, the last two and now this third one, I think that people recognize that ‘hey, this is not fly by night.’ Even though we had two years of hiatus and it was shelved… we were able to bring it back with full force, because we had that time to plan,” Ng said.

That momentum the festival has seen growing interest in the race over the past three years, with 40 teams signed up already and a projection to top the 53 that competed in last year’s festival.

“If we get 50, that’s good, but we want more,” said Ng.

The number of vendors and food trucks is also up this year, with 50 vendors and 15 food trucks signed up for the festival grounds. That’s up from 40 and 14 in 2023.

Parking issues and transportation to the festival and race grounds are also being improved for 2024, with free parking and free shuttles from Mount Royal University right to the “doorstop of the festival,” Ng said.

“When you see the festival and you walk in, you’re going to see a million tents, you’re going to see a million people. If you’re a family, you’re going see the kid zone and all the bouncy castles, and the kids will never leave that area,” he said.

Festival selects new charity partner for 2024

Ng said that this year the festival had selected a new charity partner for the dragon boat charity race with the Asian Heritage Foundation AHF).

“They were a no-brainer because they fit. They’re Asian heritage and dragon boat is a heritage sport.”

Teresa Woo-Paw, founder and co-chair of the Asian Heritage Foundation said that partnering with the Dragon Boat Race and Festival was an opportunity to broaden the reach of Asian culture and heritage in Calgary.

“[We’re] an umbrella organization, and we have a strong foundation of working in collaboration with many Asian-Canadian communities for the past two decades. So, we really welcomed the opportunity to now collaborate with the Dragon Boat Festival to be part of this movement and major event in Calgary,” Woo-Paw said.

“This is a match between sports and culture, and then merge between different organizations in Calgary. As you can see, there are many other key organizations in Calgary also contributing to this event, which is a great thing to see.”

Woo-Paw said that the AHF has been the primary organization in southern Alberta to organize events during the province’s Asian Heritage Month, which takes place in May.

She said that she was glad that they were able to both help organize but participate in the festival as well.

Traditionally members of the charity organization race in one of the boats during the charity race.

The festival will be hosting an expanded presence by GlobalFest this year, which has extended its long collaboration with the festival that stretches back over a decade.

The Dragon Boat Race and Festival runs from Aug. 9 to 11 at North Glenmore Park.

For more details, and a full schedule of events and races, see calgarydragonboatsociety.com.