June 26, 2006
Hello from Toronto: The Toronto Dragonboat
Festival – Racing, Fundraising and a Huge Picnic in the Park
One of my favourite spots in Toronto is the Toronto Islands, that
lovely patch of land right in front of downtown Toronto, separated
by just a sliver of water. So close, yet so far from the city's
hustle and bustle. One of the biggest events on the Islands is the
Toronto Dragonboat
Festival, a family event organized by the Toronto Chinese Business
Association. In addition to being a great entertainment event, the
Dragonboat Festival is also a big fundraiser 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
ferry across to Centre Island. At 10 am when I left things were
still fairly quiet and the line-ups hadn’t started yet. People
with bicycles, strollers, coolers on wheels, all equipped for a
full day on the Island, were making the trek across the bay to enjoy
the excitement of the Dragonboat Race and to bask in the serenity
of this island sanctuary.
Toronto's skyline
The ride on the ferry affords absolutely the best view of Toronto’s
skyline and at $6 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 called the Rogers Centre) and the outline
of the historic Royal York Hotel come into focus when you look back
at the city. Toronto’s skyline is one of the most recognizable
images in the world.
After a fifteen minute ride I set foot at the ferry dock on Centre
Island and started walking towards the so-called Alan A. Lamport
Regatta Course, a stretch of water frequently used for rowing events
of different kinds. People had already set themselves up all over
the lawn, ready for a picnic. Onlookers were following the races.
A food court was set up where various vendors sold different types
of Oriental delicacies and the Multicultural Village provided cultural
displays, arts and crafts demonstrations, as well as various activities
for children. One of the stands had an amazing assortment of folded
paper crafts including some beautiful decorative dragonboats. The
lady at the stand told me it takes her a whole day to craft some
of these masterpieces.
Handcrafted dragon boat, made from paper.
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 or caller facing the paddlers,
and one steerer at the rear of the boat. Dragon boats are thought
to have come into existence more than 2500 years ago in south central
China and have a long history in Chinese rituals and celebrations.
The races are in full swing
The races had already started at about 8 am Saturday morning. Dragon
boat racers were coming down the water channel, 6 boats at a time,
in the qualifying heats for the finals. This year there were about
6,000 paddlers competing over two days. About 200 teams participated
in more than 100 races over this past weekend 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 the intent to connect with some dragon boat teams. The first
team I ran into was a group of high school principals and vice principals
that get together every year to participate in the race and raise
some funds for breast cancer. These educators were a very welcoming
and enthusiastic bunch, and started chatting with me. Their coach
Glen gave me further background about their training routine. He
explained that around February the whole team goes out to public
swimming pools and starts stationary paddling. Then around April
they actually get into the water near Ontario Place and train twice
a week. Some teams train as many as five or even eight times a week.
Glen and his friends indicated that dragonboating is a supreme stress
buster, providing welcome relief from the pressures of the classroom.
A group of enthusiastic educators
One of his team members indicated that I should definitely catch
one of the most interesting teams in the race: a team of breast
cancer survivors. So I started hunting in search of this team and
I walked into the “Athlete’s Village” which had
a variety of tents set up for the convenience of the athletes.
Finally I found the team, "Dragons Abreast", a group of
women ranging in age between 35 and 75, who had all survived breast
cancer. All were dressed in pink t-shirts to draw attention to the
cause of breast cancer. I started talking to the group and found
out that some of the group’s members have travelled to various
destinations all across the world to promote the cause of breast
cancer awareness. Some of them have recently travelled to Capetown,
South Africa, and this year a number of them are participating in
an international dragonboat race in Singapore.
The inspiring team of Breast Cancer Survivors
Dianne, their media coordinator, explained that they race to promote
awareness among younger women to participate in early breast cancer
detection programs. She added that in the past many women were told
to avoid strenuous upper body exercise after breast cancer surgery.
The paddlers at Dragons Abreast on the other hand firmly believe
that the exercise involved in dragonboating actually has significant
health benefits, both physical and psychological.
One of the team members, a lady by the name of Pam, had recently
participated in an initiative called UpKili:
an event where 30 breast cancer survivors and their friends climbed
Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for Breast Cancer Research. In
total more than US$120,000 was raised. Pam told me that she ended
up having an accident during the climb and had to be rescued and
taken down by a team of sherpas. Nevertheless this was one of the
most exciting events in her life time, being part of this unique
initiative for this great cause. And despite her injury she ended
up taking part in a safari even after the climb was finished. I
was really happy to have connected with this group of courageous
women who had overcome so much and are now taking their inspiring
message to audiences across the world.
Lion Dance
The official opening ceremony was going to be held at noon so I
raced back into the main festival area. A group of politicians and
dignitaries was assembled on the stage and after a number of speeches
and welcoming remarks by the President of the Toronto Chinese Business
Association, the ribbon cutting ceremony was held. A performance
of the Lion Dance and the Eye-Dotting Ceremony of the Lions provided
an authentic Chinese cultural flavour to this event. This was followed
up by the Waist Drum Dance, organized and performed by the Chinese
Professional Women Association of Canada.
The Chinese Waist Drummers
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 opening ceremony I saw this group of people strolling
determinedly across the lawn, obviously a dragon boat team that
had just finished their race. Their leader was pulling an imitation
version of a multi-functional dragon boat that was spewing smoke,
blowing soap bubbles and blaring Michael Jackson dance tunes through
the built-in stereo system. The group was marching at a pretty fast
clip and I had a hard time trying to keep up with them and taking
pictures at the same time. Finally they settled in the shade by
the water and I asked one of the team members what this was all
about. He explained that his team was called "Kindred Spirits"
and that they represented the Kinsmen in Bolton. They had indeed
finished their last race of the day and were now ready to relax
and celebrate, and their special miniature dragon boat was a symbol
of their determination to have a great party.
Getting ready for the party
The colourful characters kept coming. I ran into two bagpipers
from the Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner’s Own “Pipes
and Drums”, a group of uniformed and civilian volunteers,
who make appearances as ambassadors for the O.P.P. all throughout
Ontario. These two gentlemen were just enjoying a pizza when I came
up to them and asked them about their upcoming performance. They
said they would be performing at about 1 pm, “somewhere in
the shade”. Both of them were dressed up in full Scottish
regalia, kilt and all, wearing the colours of the Ontario tartan.
Two members of the Commissioner's Own Pipes and Drums
Of course I also had to ask them the key question that is burning
on everybody’s lips when they encounter a Scottish bagpiper.
The officer kindly responded and said that the answer totally depends
on the question:
- If the question is “What is worn under the kilt?”,
the answer is “nothing is worn under the kilt, everything
is in great working order”.
- If the question is “What are you wearing under the kilt?”,
the appropriate answer is “socks and shoes”.
That meant my curiosity remained unsatisfied, but I got a chuckle
out of the answers which no doubt must have been given dozens of
times before to deflect nosy queries. I only had about another hour
on the island before I had to head back to the city, so I put on
my inline skates and started gliding southwards through the gardens
on Toronto Island which feature a fountain, several flower beds
and reflecting ponds. South of there are locker rooms, the Island
Bicycle Rental 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’s Point, Toronto’s only clothing
optional beach.
Serenity on the island
I had to get back to the mainland, so I started rollerblading in
the other direction, eastwards towards Ward’s Island. Along
the way I found numerous spots 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 perfect serenity. Ward’s
Island itself houses a community of permanent residents, many of
them artists.
The perfect spot for viewing Toronto's skyline
I ran into one of these talented folks, who was fabric painting
on t-shirts in the middle of the lawn. Christopher Pinheiro is a
Trinidadian-born multi-disciplinarian artist. His description on
the Toronto Islands website lists him as “actor, dancer, model,
masquerader, soup-chef and textstylist”. We had a brief chat
about his fabric art as he was just painting a red maple leaf which
would later be adorned by yellow and blue sections. Christopher
is obviously an important member of the Toronto Islands artist community.
The maple leaf is in the works
At 2:15 I caught the ferry back to the mainland from Wards Island
together with probably another 20 or 30 travellers. Arrival on the
other side was a different story: the ferry docks and the public
area outside the ferry buildings were completely full with hundreds
of people, lining up all the way out to Front Street. I guess everyone
wanted to catch a piece of the Toronto Islands on this gorgeous
day…
Useful books about Toronto:
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My visit to Doors Open 2006
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Little Italy 2006
A tour through Toronto's historic
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Images of Toronto during the winter
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Hello from Toronto (2) - Exploring
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Hello from Toronto (3) - Exploring
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Hello from Toronto (4) - Exploring
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Hello from Toronto (5) - Novice golf,
exploring the Kawarthas, & a final bike ride
Here are my
reflections after my European visitors left
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