The 25th Annual Colorado Dragon Boat Festival

This weekend marks the 25th annual Colorado Dragon Boat Festival, which takes place at Denver's Sloan's Lake Park each year. I only had an hour and a half to visit the festival this year, but as I recall, once you've watched two of those dragon boat races, you would be good for another year. I arrived as the first set of races were ending and took the photograph on the left of one of those boats returning to the dock, with a drummer in the front encouraging the rowers to row on, and someone at the back to help guide the craft. And then they announced on the loudspeaker that there would be a short break to tabulate the times and announce each boat's position in the standings. However, I have to assume dragon boat tradition requires using an abacus to make these calculations, which were still going on after an hour or so. I stayed as long as I could, but eventually had to leave, with no actual photos of the races or the celebration of the winners at the finish line. Oh well - there is always next year.

One of the most interesting parts of the festival are the boats themselves, which all have a different dragon face on the bow, one of which can be seen in the photograph on the right. Walking around the area, I was amazed at how many different teams there were, and how many people were needed to power each boat. In addition to the races themselves, there were food booths in areas marked "Taste of Asia East" and "Taste of Asia West," as well as an "Asian Marketplace," a "Performing Arts Stage," and a "Band Stage." And the place was packed with people. I was fortunate to find a parking spot just 5 blocks away from the lake.

I took the photograph on the left of a booth in the "Taste of Asia East" area, believe it or not. But in addition to traditional Asian delicacies such as Italian Sausage Sandwiches, Diablo Dogs, Giant Bratwursts, and Bada-Bing Burgers, I was happy to see that they were also selling Giant Turkey Legs. I have a theory that they start serving those giant turkey legs at the Denver Chalk Art Festival in the spring, freeze the leftovers, and then defrost them for each successive festival, finishing up with Oktoberfest at the end of September. Yum! And now I find that you can even get them at the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival. Great news! And happily, the festival continues today until 5:00 P.M. Be sure not to forget to pick up that turkey leg on the way in.