14th Annual Lake Bemidji Dragon Boat Festival Just Around The Corner

Paddles up! The 14th annual Lake Bemidji Dragon Boat Festival is just around the corner.

The Dragon Boat Festival is a four-day event. This year, there are 54 teams racing during the dragon boat race. Today, volunteers have been setting up for the event all day.

They’ve unloaded the boats that came in from Toronto onto the docks and have set up the tent. The festival kicks-off Wednesday with a taco feed.

“You know, the taco feed on Wednesday starts at about 11 and that will run all day until about 7 at night. And the cornhole tournament will start at 5 on Thursday and then Friday there’s a parade at 6, all the teams will be introduced. And then at 7 o’clock racing will start and that will last a couple of hours. And then Saturday is 9:30 to 5:30 racing,” Scott Turn, a Lake Bemidji Dragon Boat Festival Volunteer, said.

Team practices for the dragon boat races begins tomorrow at 5 p.m.