13th Annual Colorado Dragon Boat Festival (CDBF)
When the volunteer group of Operations Committee members came together to put on the first CDBF in 2001, we felt like we were throwing a big party to celebrate the Denver area's rich and diverse Asian communities.
It turned out to be bigger than expected: We thought there would be about 7,000 people to check out our Marketplace and Performing Arts Stage and root for teams in the ancient sport of Dragon Boat Races at Sloan's Lake Park. Much to our shock, 15,000 guests enjoyed the one-day event, and most of the five (only five!) food vendors that day ran out of food before the end of the day, even after running back to their restaurants and warehouses multiple times to re-stock. Westword named CDBF Best New Festival in the next year's "Best of Denver" issue.
The next year, we had 30,000 festival guests. In 2003, when the Rocky Mountain News named us the Best City Festival 50,000 spectators turned out. In 2005, we expanded the festival to two full days, and for the past three years we've had over 100,000 people celebrating Asian culture and athletic competition with us.
The Dragon Boat Races have grown with the festival too. That first year, we had 16 teams. The following year, there were 32 teams. This year, we're planning on 52 teams competing. Along the way, we've added a Youth Division, and also added Competitive Race Divisions when we purchased two Hong Kong style boats, which are lower and faster in the water, and don't have a flag catcher like the Taiwan-style boats we've had from the start. In 2010, we purchased two of our own Taiwan-style boats too, by popular demand. So from now on, we'll feature two styles of dragon boat styles in both competitive and recreational races.
The Competitive races have attracted teams and paddlers from across the country, and eventually, will be an international draw for our festival.
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