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Below you can find a number of reference sections intended as a quick guide to the festival. If you don't find what you need on the website, please click here to email Leah Barton, or call (613) 238-7711, x221.

Festival at a Glance

The Festival

North America’s largest dragon boat festival
The Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival began in 1993 with the assistance of the Hong Kong Canada Business Association
2011 marks the 18th Annual Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival
Original Founders are Frank Ling, President of the Asian Heritage Month Society, Warren Creates, Head of Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall LLP’s Immigration Law Group and Mike Chambers, President of the Canadian Olympic Committee
Executive Director John Brooman
Represented by Ottawa’s three largest media groups: CTV, CHUM & The Ottawa Citizen

Logistics

A non-profit festival with free admission to spectators
Held at Mooney’s Bay Park on Riverside Drive in Ottawa
65,000 attendees over 3 days
350 volunteers
Free downtown parking and shuttle service, with bike parking available on site

Onsite Entertainment & Activities

Multicultural performances including live music, cultural presentations, and ceremonial activities
Roving entertainment
Children’s area featuring award winning family entertainment
Beer Garden
Food Vendors featuring international cuisine and summer desserts
Exhibitions and shopping opportunities

Dragon Boating

Part of a larger Chinese cultural tradition that goes back 2,400 years
Began in South East China as a fertility rite to avert misfortune and bring rain by worshiping the dragon
A Dragon Boat is a slim 44’ racer with a dragon’s head at the bow and a tail at the stern
Each Dragon Boat holds 20 paddlers, a drummer and a steersperson
190 teams participate including both corporate and community groups
New race every 9 minutes
15 Challenge Cup Categories
Breast Cancer Survivor Challenge and traditional Flower Ceremony
1,500 medals awarded
Approximately 5,000 paddlers
Paddlers participate in dragon boat clubs across Canada, from as far west as British Columbia and as far east as Newfoundland.