Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival

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File:ODBF 2012 Poster Art.jpg

2012 Poster Art

The Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival is a yearly event that attracts 5500 paddlers and over 70,000 spectators in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Since its inception in 1993, thousands of participants have gathered at Mooney's Bay Park on Riverside Drive in Ottawa to race. Admission to the festival is free to spectators.

Intense competition at the Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival

In 1998 the "Pledge Challenge" was added as a charitable component. The Ottawa Dragon Boat Foundation was founded in 2004 to help efforts with fundraising for local charities. To date the Challenge has raised over $2.43 million.

The 2012 edition of the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival will take place June 22–24, 2012. The Ottawa Dragon Boat Foundation's fundraising goal was to raise $350,000 for local charities.

The event is held in Mooney's Bay, where the Rideau River and Rideau Canal split. Many of the Ottawa-based boats train at Mooney's Bay out of the Rideau Canoe Club.

[edit] Breast Cancer Survivor Teams

The Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival is proud to offer a breast cancer survivor team category into the race weekend, and holds an annual flower ceremony on the water. This has become an integral part of the festival and a reason why many breast cancer survivor teams have chosen to travel to Ottawa to participate in the Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. Many accompanying family and friends also make the trip to show their support and honour survivors.

Refer to Reference #1 and #2

[edit] Opening Ceremony

For the first time in the festival history that Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival will be expanding programming on each day of the event, introducing various new components including a new Opening Ceremony, new Parade of Champions and an additional race day, new Friday and Saturday late night headline events and new amusement attractions.

The new Opening Ceremony will be presented on Friday and added in a cultural tourist attractions like Aboriginal Dance and the RCMP Pipe and Drum band. The Parade of Champions is our version of the Olympics' Parade of Nations. This types of recognition from Attractions Canada and Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority. The festival’s opening ceremony is a highly anticipated event that officially marks the start of the festival. Numerous dignitaries will attend including the Mayor of Ottawa Jim Watson. Other special guests include CTV Ottawa media personalities Max Keeping and Carol Anne Meehan, River Ward Councillor Maria McRae, and other prominent members of the broader community.

The Opening ceremony will also be featuring some ancient Asian cultural celebrations to pay respect to the roots of the festival heritage. This will include The Success Lion Dance Troupe, who celebrates a 3000 year old tradition that symbolizes prosperity, luck and happiness. The Oto-Wa Taiko Japanese drummers who have been performing in Ottawa and around the world since 1989 will wow tourists and residents with their percussion skills and wide drums.

[edit] On-Site Entertainment

Visitors and spectators cheer on their favourite teams, while simultaneously enjoying the constant flow of on-site entertainment throughout the three day weekend. The high quality artists will attracting tourists and crowd. There are renowned artists entertaining attendees on two stages ensuring that everyone is having fun.

The festival's 2012 main stage programming is an important component in attracting tourists and residents of Ottawa to the event. 2012 will include addition new Friday and Saturday late night concerts to attract crowds. We are considering big-name artists such as Ottawas’ own Alanis Morissette, Kathleen Edwards, Bruce Cockburn as well as popular Canadian performers Tragically Hip, Coure De Pirate, The Arkells, Sam Roberts or international artists Mumford and Sons, Civil Wars or Neon Trees. Past performers include The Trews, Steven Page, 54-40, Bedouin Sounclash, Ashley MacIssac, San Sebastian, Ash Koley and Jeff Healey.

The festival's beer garden stage has added a superb component to the main stage programming. The main stage entertainment cuntinously runs throughout the weekend and showcases the best of Ottawa’s established and upcoming entertainers. Past performers include Jim Bryson, MonkeyJunk, Chris Maclean, Silver Creek, Amos The Transparent, Amanda Rheaume and JW Jones. Some of the local performers the ODBF is considering for 2012 are The Acorn, Karkwa, Meagan Jerome, Jill Zmud and Keshia Chante.

Everyone in the Ottawa community as well as tourists are invited to enjoy the free live local entertainment and beer garden. It is a great way for the people to come together and share in the festivities.

Refer to Reference #3

[edit] Children's Area

The Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival's Children's Area offers free family entertainment such as offers interactive and educational programming , and the family favourite the bounce castle.

The Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival provides continuous children's programming during the festival from 10:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. each day. New this year, children's programming has elevated, offering more entertainers and activities. This would including popular artists such as Sharon, Lois & Bram, Lil’ John and Company of Fools. Expanded extreme sports demonstrations, improved and enhanced performance area and added amusement attractions for the entire family.

Past performers include Illusionist Chris Pilsworth, Little Ray`s Reptiles, Radical Science, The Manipulators, The Cow Guys, Spartacat, A Company of Fools, Ventriloquist Tim Holland, The Great Balanzo, The Paddling Puppeteers, L’il John, and Riley the Racoon mascot from the Ottawa 67’s

[edit] Vendors, Artisans, Concessionaires, and Exhibitors

The Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival offers a vast array of food and commodities from a variety of local vendors. Festival attendees can choose from over 50 vendors, artisans, concessionaires and exhibitors.

Some past vendors include Wilderness Tours, Creative Minds, Creations of the Heart, Lemon Heaven, Stone Soup, and Ottawa Belgian Waffle.

Refer to Reference #4

[edit] Closing Ceremony

Closing ceremony bring the festival to an end with a final celebration of team awards and presentations. The crowd is drawn in with It features live performances and cultural presentations, which allow visitors, spectators and participants to become immersed in the dragon boat family. The festival’s closing ceremony features live entertainment, awards, and a special thank you to sponsors, suppliers, artists, performers, paddlers, volunteers and organizers who contributed and helped make the Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival a tremendous success.