Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival 2015

Not too long ago in Ottawa it was the Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. If you haven't heard of it well the name describes it pretty well. It's a festival centered on Dragon boat races. Here's a picture I took of what they look like.

These boats are powered by everyone rowing in time to the beat of the drum in the front of the boat. Along with some commands that are yelled to keep the beat. These things combined make the boat move pretty fast.

The festival started in China over 2,400 years ago as a cultural tradition meant to make bountiful crops. The festival in Ottawa started in 1994 but was founded a year earlier. The first festival was half a day with 25 teams. This year it was over 200 teams and 4 day's long. Making it recognized as the largest dragon boat festival in North America. (for more information visits there website )

So as you see it's been going on a while and every year I hear about it through social media. And yet I have never attended it. So this year I decided I would. And I'm glad I did it was interesting and worth going to.

There's more than just the races at the festival there's also free concerts, activities, booths of food and more booths with some vendors and other with some information. Along with all that there's a children section with activities for them. And when I was there a bicycle stunt chow. But more on that later. Let's start with the beginning.

Part of my journey to get to the festival was a bus ride. It was a long one. The bus was packed and when I got to where there was supposedly a bus shuttle to the festival all I saw was a lot of people walking so not seeing a shuttle or anyone waiting for one I decided to follow the crowd. It was a bit of a walk but I'm so glad I decided to walk instead of wait and look around for a shuttle bus. Because of these guy.....

Living in Canada it is not uncommon to see these guys. But I usually just see them while driving I only get a quick look and then we have driven by. I have never really seen one much less two so close on a trail with so many people walking by. So naturally I stopped and too some pictures here's one last one.

And then we get to the festival

After a quick bag check there you are in the middle of it all. There was a decent amount of people walking around but not too many and a lot more people in the team and volunteer section of which I do not have a picture of. Here's the first view of the festival.

First I passed the Children section they had bouncy castles and a life size model of a cow people could try milking after which they got a sticker saying I milked a cow. I saw a couple children sporting them proudly in the festival grounds. Then on one side was the food vendors and further along some more booths with some wares to be sold, some causes that wanted support, and some centers publicizing there services. I spent some time walking around looking at all the sights. Like the main stage. Here's some pictures of the stage where concerts where going to be held later in the day. When I took the picture there was some people playing but I'm not sure who they where.

After that It was perfectly timed that I ended up at the bicycle stunt show right as the show was about to start. The show was sponsored by bell and it was partly about safety so the stunt man from new jersey would insert safety tips along the performance. And explain some tricks he used on how he did it safely. But he would also pretend he didn't know what he was doing at some points like bike towards the crowd and stop at the last second or do a trick of jumping the bike over a person and doing a cool move around him before actually doing it of course with room to spare.

Those weren't the best pictures I know. I had a good view at first but then the green hat child pushed through the crowd and went in front of me and well I figured making sure every one could see was a lot more important than taking the best picture.

Once the show was over I climbed the hill seen in previous pictures and took some neat pictures of most of the ground.

And then it was lunch and it all looked so good that I took picture. Chicken pad thai and freshly squeezed lemonade with watermelon flavor. Here's the photo of the stand I got the pad thai from and then of the food.

I ended my time at the festival with some time on the beach watching the races and taking yet again some more pictures.

All in all it was a good time and I'm glad I went. Lot's to see and do I stayed for about 3 hours or a bit more and I could of stayed longer if I found a place on the beach to sit, read and watch the races before going to see the concerts that started around 5. And if a person went with young children they could be there even longer since there was many things and separate activities for them. So there you have it The Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. Free admission and interesting, worth to go have a look.

So what are you waiting for. Go out there and find some adventure big or small!