The Dragon Boats

So...whatever can be said about Portland, boring it is not. Around every corner, especially as the weather warms, is some festival. The Dragon Boat Races, which are held annually during the first week of June, have inspired our imaginations as we have seen dragon boats filled with rowers floating on the Willamette and bike commuters with canoe paddles strapped to their backs heading over the Hawthorne Bridge. While downtown for the girls' swim lessons this week Rynn, Eleanor and I walked down to the docks to get a close up look at these interesting boats. Below I have copied a description of what the Dragon Boat Races are all about from an online website describing Portland's relationship with its sister city in Taiwan.

"The Portland Rose Festival Dragon Boat Race is an annual cultural event hosted by the Portland-Kaohsiung Sister City Association (PKSCA) that is held in early June as a sanctioned event of the Portland Rose Festival Foundation. The event features as many as 96 dragon boat teams from all over the world who race in Taiwan-style dragon boats. There are three divisions: Mixed, Women, and High School. The race is held on the Willamette River located at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland.

Portland-Kaohsiung Sister City Association promotes “people to people” exchanges of educational, artistic, and cultural activities. PKSCA maintains several programs that focus on and support our mission. These include the annual Portland Rose Festival Dragon Boat Race, participation in the Portland Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade, and Starlight Parade, annual good will delegation exchanges between Portland and Kaohsiung, and support of Portland Chinese organizations and programs."

*All the above pictures are mine from this afternoon except for this one which is a picture of last year's Dragon Boat Race featured in the Oregonian. The winner has to grab that yellow flag. Looks like tough work!*

And for more exciting Portland eccentric side news...this flyer I saw in the library today for CIRQUE DU CYCLING which for you Portlanders is going to be on June 13th on Mississippi Ave., and I'm bummed it is scheduled when we will be out of town. Check out the photos of this bike parade!
check it out at http://www.cyclingcircus.com/