For the second year in a row, attendance at the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival topped 100,000 visitors, a spokeswoman said Sunday evening.
The turnout was no easy feat as the state’s celebration of Asian-American and Pacific Islander culture took place under threatening skies and periodic showers Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
In its first year in 2001, the audience numbered about 15,000, according to organizers.
This year more than 45 teams, including about 1,000 paddlers, raced Saturday and Sunday.
Chop Suey, a team from Florida making its first bid at Sloan’s Lake, won the adult competitive division. Rock Dragons won the corporate division. Oars are Better than Yours won the adult novice race, and Chinggis’ Warriors won the youth crown.
The show also included music, dance and martial arts at entertainment venues, with 40 vendors, including 20 specialty food booths.
“It was a great year,” Dragon Boat Races spokeswoman Valerie Hamlin said of the festival’s ninth year.
“Everyone seemed to have a good time, and vendors had a lot of sales. We’re very happy about that,” she said.
She attributed the strong showing, despite the elements, to the show’s celebration of Hawaii’s 50th year as a state.
The show included island dancers and musicians, retro island fashions, artifacts such as a Hawaiian outrigger canoe and modern and antique surfboards.
Visitors learned to hula dance, make a lei, prepare Spam sushi and appreciate the history of the ukulele.
By The Denver Post
