The Tim Horton’s Dragon Boat Festival is happening this weekend in Ottawa! This popular annual event takes place at Mooney’s Bay Park and is North America’s largest Dragon Boat Festival, with over 200 teams participating. The first event was held in 1994 and featured just 25 teams, with races lasting only half a day. Since then the festival has grown to become one of the most anticipated events in Ottawa.
Participants from across Canada and the U.S. race in the Tim Horton’s Dragon Boat Festival, and about 5,000 paddlers are registered. Over the course of the event 1,500 medals will be awarded for a variety of different competitions. Admission to the festival is free, with about 75,000 attendees expected. With plenty to see and do, including shopping, food vendors, exhibitors, entertainment, and a new race beginning every nine minutes, the Dragon Boat Festival is a weekend of fun for the whole family.
For those who have never attended the festival before, the event is a four-day celebration of the arts, sports, culture, and heritage and offers a variety of entertainment on-site. In addition to the Dragon Boat races and award ceremonies, event-goers can enjoy free concerts every night and family fun throughout the festival. Magicians, puppeteers, animal shows, and more will be at Mooney’s Bay each day to keep the kids entertained between races.
The festival is a community-oriented event with a charitable component. Participants have raised funds for a variety of local charities since 1998 when the festival began growing in popularity, and the Ottawa Dragon Boat Foundation was officially established in 2003 to help grow the racers’ fundraising efforts.
There will be lots to see and do at this year’s event, so make sure you stop by! There’s no public parking available on-site, so if you do plan on attending the festival try not to bring your car. If you have to drive, you can park at the nearby Canada Post headquarters on Riverside Drive and take a free shuttle from there. Events will be on at the festival throughout the weekend of June 21st – 22nd.
Mooney’s Bay Park is easily accessible by surrounding neighbourhoods like the Glebe, Old Ottawa South, Alta Vista, Carleton Heights, and more. Residents in those neighbourhoods can enjoy a morning or afternoon walk to reach the festival, ride their bike, or find bus schedules on the OcTranspo website. There will be free bicycle parking at the event.
For more information, including race and concert schedules, visit the Dragon Boat Festival website. If you’re interested in more information about Ottawa, feel free to contact us directly or browse our website for a licensed real estate sales representative, who have experience in all of Ottawa neighbourhoods! You can also subscribe to our blog to receive regular updates about the Ottawa real estate market.
Images from the Dragon Boat Festival website.
