Hello From Toronto – Part 6 – The Toronto International Dragonboat Festival 2006

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Hello From Toronto – Part 6 – The Toronto International DragonboatFestival 2006

Hello From Toronto – Part 6 – The Toronto International Dragonboat Festival2006

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Hello From Toronto – Part 6 – The Toronto International Dragonboat Festival2006

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Posted: Jan 31, 2007 |Comments: 0 | Views: 114 |

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Hello From Toronto – Part 6 – The Toronto International Dragonboat Festival2006

By: Susanne Pacher

About the Author

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions (http://www.travelandtransitions.com),a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-culturalconnections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks abouttravel.

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Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – Hello From Toronto – Part 6 – The Toronto International Dragonboat Festival2006

One of my favourite spots in Toronto is the Toronto Islands, that lovelypatch of land right in front of downtown Toronto, separated by just a sliver ofwater. So close, yet so far from the city’s hustle and bustle. One of thebiggest events on the Islands is the Toronto Dragonboat Festival, a familyevent organized by the Toronto Chinese Business Association. In addition tobeing a great entertainment event, the Dragonboat Festival is also a bigfundraiser for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, so it’s not just fun,it’s also for a good cause.

So two days ago I headed off down to the waterfront and took the ferryacross to Centre Island. At 10 am when I left things were still fairly quietand the line-ups hadn’t started yet. People with bicycles, strollers, coolerson wheels, all equipped for a full day on the Island, were making the trekacross the bay to enjoy the excitement of the Dragonboat Race and to bask inthe serenity of this island sanctuary.

The ride on the ferry affords absolutely the best view of Toronto’s skylineand at return it is one of the most affordable sight-seeing options in Toronto.All the skyscrapers, the CN Tower, the round shell of the Skydome (now calledthe Rogers Centre) and the outline of the historic Royal York Hotel come intofocus when you look back at the city. Toronto’s skyline is one of the mostrecognizable images in the world.

After a fifteen minute ride I set foot at the ferry dock on Centre Islandand started walking towards the so-called Alan A. Lamport Regatta Course, astretch of water frequently used for rowing events of different kinds. Peoplehad already set themselves up all over the lawn, ready for a picnic. Onlookerswere following the races. A food court was set up where various vendors solddifferent types of Oriental delicacies and the Multicultural Village providedcultural displays, arts and crafts demonstrations, as well as variousactivities for children. One of the stands had an amazing assortment of foldedpaper crafts including some beautiful decorative dragonboats. The lady at thestand told me it takes her a whole day to craft some of these masterpieces.

A real dragon boat actually is a long and narrow boat, powered by paddlers,and the boat is usually adorned by decorative Chinese dragon heads and tails.Usually a dragon boat will have a crew of about 22 people, with one drummer orcaller facing the paddlers, and one steerer at the rear of the boat. Dragonboats are thought to have come into existence more than 2500 years ago in southcentral China and have a long history in Chinese rituals and celebrations.

The races had already started at about 8 am Saturday morning. Dragon boatracers were coming down the water channel, 6 boats at a time, in the qualifyingheats for the finals. This year there were about 6,000 paddlers competing overtwo days. About 200 teams participated in more than 100 races over this pastweekend and teams came from all walks of life: banks, community groups,colleges, universities and other educational institutions, hospitals,technology and pharmaceutical companies and many more.

I strolled past the grandstand and past Centreville, Toronto Islands’amusement park, over the bridge to the other side of the race course with theintent to connect with some dragon boat teams. The first team I ran into was agroup of high school principals and vice principals that get together everyyear to participate in the race and raise some funds for breast cancer. Theseeducators were a very welcoming and enthusiastic bunch, and started chattingwith me. Their coach Glen gave me further background about their trainingroutine. He explained that around February the whole team goes out to publicswimming pools and starts stationary paddling. Then around April they actuallyget into the water near Ontario Place and train twice a week. Some teams trainas many as five or even eight times a week. Glen and his friends indicated thatdragonboating is a supreme stress buster, providing welcome relief from thepressures of the classroom.

One of his team members indicated that I should definitely catch one of themost interesting teams in the race: a team of breast cancer survivors. So Istarted hunting in search of this team and I walked into the “Athlete’sVillage” which had a variety of tents set up for the convenience of theathletes.

Finally I found the team, “Dragons Abreast”, a group of women ranging in agebetween 35 and 75, who had all survived breast cancer. All were dressed in pinkt-shirts to draw attention to the cause of breast cancer. I started talking tothe group and found out that some of the group’s members have travelled tovarious destinations all across the world to promote the cause of breast cancerawareness. Some of them have recently travelled to Capetown, South Africa, andthis year a number of them are participating in an international dragonboatrace in Singapore.

Dianne, their media coordinator, explained that they race to promoteawareness among younger women to participate in early breast cancer detectionprograms. She added that in the past many women were told to avoid strenuousupper body exercise after breast cancer surgery. The paddlers at DragonsAbreast on the other hand firmly believe that the exercise involved indragonboating actually has significant health benefits, both physical andpsychological.

One of the team members, a lady by the name of Pam, had recentlyparticipated in an initiative called UpKili: an event where 30 breast cancersurvivors and their friends climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for BreastCancer Research. In total more than US0,000 was raised. Pam told me that sheended up having an accident during the climb and had to be rescued and takendown by a team of sherpas. Nevertheless this was one of the most excitingevents in her life time, being part of this unique initiative for this greatcause. And despite her injury she ended up taking part in a safari even afterthe climb was finished. I was really happy to have connected with this group ofcourageous women who had overcome so much and are now taking their inspiringmessage to audiences across the world.

The official opening ceremony was going to be held at noon so I raced backinto the main festival area. A group of politicians and dignitaries wasassembled on the stage and after a number of speeches and welcoming remarks bythe President of the Toronto Chinese Business Association, the ribbon cuttingceremony was held. A performance of the Lion Dance and the Eye-Dotting Ceremonyof the Lions provided an authentic Chinese cultural flavour to this event. Thiswas followed up by the Waist Drum Dance, organized and performed by the ChineseProfessional Women Association of Canada.

I then strolled the grounds and by this time the food court was quite busy.Every special event has its special characters and just after the openingceremony I saw this group of people strolling determinedly across the lawn,obviously a dragon boat team that had just finished their race. Their leaderwas pulling an imitation version of a multi-functional dragon boat that wasspewing smoke, blowing soap bubbles and blaring Michael Jackson dance tunesthrough the built-in stereo system. The group was marching at a pretty fastclip and I had a hard time trying to keep up with them and taking pictures atthe same time. Finally they settled in the shade by the water and I asked oneof the team members what this was all about. He explained that his team wascalled “Kindred Spirits” and that they represented the Kinsmen in Bolton. Theyhad indeed finished their last race of the day and were now ready to relax andcelebrate, and their special miniature dragon boat was a symbol of theirdetermination to have a great party.

The colourful characters kept coming. I ran into two bagpipers from theOntario Provincial Police Commissioner’s Own “Pipes and Drums”, a group ofuniformed and civilian volunteers, who make appearances as ambassadors for theO.P.P. all throughout Ontario. These two gentlemen were just enjoying a pizzawhen I came up to them and asked them about their upcoming performance. Theysaid they would be performing at about 1 pm, “somewhere in the shade”. Both ofthem were dressed up in full Scottish regalia, kilt and all, wearing thecolours of the Ontario tartan.

Of course I also had to ask them the key question that is burning oneverybody’s lips when they encounter a Scottish bagpiper. The officer kindlyresponded and said that the answer totally depends on the question:

- If the question is “What is worn under the kilt?”, the answer is “nothingis worn under the kilt, everything is in great working order”.

- If the question is “What are you wearing under the kilt?”, the appropriateanswer is “socks and shoes”.

That meant my curiosity remained unsatisfied, but I got a chuckle out of theanswers which no doubt must have been given dozens of times before to deflectnosy queries. I only had about another hour on the island before I had to headback to the city, so I put on my inline skates and started gliding southwardsthrough the gardens on Toronto Island which feature a fountain, several flowerbeds and reflecting ponds. South of there are locker rooms, the Island BicycleRental building as well as the Island Pier. West of this area is Manitou Beach,a sandy haven for avid sun worshippers. Further west from there is Hanlan’sPoint, Toronto’s only clothing optional beach.

I had to get back to the mainland, so I started rollerblading in the otherdirection, eastwards towards Ward’s Island. Along the way I found numerousspots with canals, inlets and sailboats set against the backdrop of the city,indeed some of the best places to take in Toronto’s skyline in perfectserenity. Ward’s Island itself houses a community of permanent residents, manyof them artists.

I ran into one of these talented folks, who was fabric painting on t-shirtsin the middle of the lawn. Christopher Pinheiro is a Trinidadian-bornmulti-disciplinarian artist. His description on the Toronto Islands websitelists him as “actor, dancer, model, masquerader, soup-chef and textstylist”. Wehad a brief chat about his fabric art as he was just painting a red maple leafwhich would later be adorned by yellow and blue sections. Christopher isobviously an important member of the Toronto Islands artist community.

At 2:15 I caught the ferry back to the mainland from Wards Island togetherwith probably another 20 or 30 travellers. Arrival on the other side was adifferent story: the ferry docks and the public area outside the ferrybuildings were completely full with hundreds of people, lining up all the wayout to Front Street. I guess everyone wanted to catch a piece of the TorontoIslands on this gorgeous day…

For the entire article including photos pleasevisit http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/dragonboats2006.htm

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Hello From Toronto – Part 6 – The Toronto International Dragonboat Festival 2006

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