The Edmonton Dragonboat Festival Association pivoted locations at the last minute due to heavy rain – but organizers say the day went off without a hitch regardless. The annual festival typically takes place at Louis McKinney Park, but the banks of the North Saskatchewan River were deemed unsafe after two months of seemingly endless rain. Organizers instead paddled on Telford Lake at the Leduc Boat Club. “I wouldn’t say (it’s) better. I would say different. There’s pros and cons to all of it,” association president Mark Lashmar said on Saturday, the first day of the event. A dragon boat consists of 22 people. The festival, which runs all weekend, has 25 teams competing. “There’s some that are absolute athletes, and they go above and beyond. And then we have some that are recreational teams, and they’re doing it for just the fun of the sport,” Lashmar said. Some, like the “Breast Friends Edmonton” team, were out competing to celebrate the fact that they could after surviving breast cancer. “We’ve all heard those dreaded words: ‘You have cancer,’ and when you hear those words, sometimes you feel like your life is over,” one of the team’s members said. “We’re here to show that your life is not over. It can begin with this sport … You’re in a boat with 21 other women that have heard those same words, and it’s fabulous.” The Dragon Boat Festival also features vendors, food trucks, music and a beverage garden. Lashmar says all are welcome. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Galen McDougall
