Press
Dragon-boat racing highlight of new festival
Reprinted with permission from the Racine Journal Times, February 4, 2004
Charlie Rice of Racine was roaming a sail boat show in Chicago when something happened that could turn Racine into the dragon boat capitol of the Midwest. "I was wandering around the show with my Rotary pin on looking at sail boats. I met this guy," Rice remembered. The guy was a fellow Rotarian, from the Duluth and Superior Rotary clubs, who seemed just giddy about the success of a fund-raising event called a dragon boat festival.
Now, a year later, Rice's club, Racine Rotary West, is planning the first annual Great Midwest Dragon Boat Festival. It's to be a massive summer event. It will include a parade, 75 crews of mostly local racers, and a Chinese-themed food-and-entertainment festival.
Strategically, local officials consider the festival a good fit for Racine County. It makes use of the lake. It has the potential to attract tourism. It can grow over time. "It's our hope that this is going to be an extremely large event. Our goal is to make it a large event with teams from throughout the Midwest and Canada," said Rick Granite, director of fund-raising for Rotary West. He hopes the event will become as much a part of Racine County as Salmon-A-Rama or HarborFest, with people looking forward to watching the boat races each year.
"It's unique to this area," said Adam Smith, spokesman for the festival and for the Racine County Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Not a lot of people have seen dragon boats." Dragon boats are Chinese canoes with crews of paddlers paced by a drummer. A perfectly synchronized team is faster and more likely to win - and be visually spectacular.
You don't need to know anything about dragon boats to race. An experienced steering-person can be assigned to your boat. Some Racinians are traveling to Florida in April to attend dragon boat school. The company that is providing the dragon boats for the festival will teach steering.
The steering, in fact, is a key to winning. "They make sure the boat goes straight to save precious seconds," Smith said. Racing does not require the purchase of equipment and it is not time consuming. The teams are touted as helping to build unity among individual corporations, organizations and departments.
Teams compete in one of the following classes: Education, health/medical, food and libations, service clubs, government and non-profit, all female, athletic teams, youth, financial and legal, friends and family, and business. The fastest time in each class gets a trophy.
Dragon boat racing began 2,000 years ago when some believed it would ensure bountiful crops. Ironically, sponsors Rotary West and the local visitors bureau hope dragon boat racing in July will create a different kind of crop: Money.
The event will raise money for Rotary West causes and for the Racine Heritage Museum. Unfortunately, there's been a wrinkle in the fund-raising plans. The brochures that describe how the money will be spent may be incorrect. The Great Midwest Dragon Boat Festival has printed up several thousand brochures that say the event is raising money for the construction of a new Racine Heritage Museum on the lakefront.
It's possible, however, that the construction will never take place. Museum officials are considering whether to move the Racine Heritage Museum into Memorial Hall, instead of building an expensive new facility from scratch. Smith said it's unfortunate his brochures may be outdated, but he said any money the race raises for the Racine Heritage Museum will be given to the museum regardless of its future plans.
Each year, the event could raise money for a different major cause while bringing attention to Racine. It's hoped this first year will be the start of something tremendous for Racine and the 50 members of Rotary West are putting a lot of time into the project. "We want to make Racine a destination," Granite said. "It's a pretty large undertaking to pull something like this off."
