Kamloops Dragon Boat Festival
It was with great disappointment that the organizers of the Kamloops Festival had to make the difficult decision to cancel our dragon boat races this year. With ongoing wildfires in the Interior region, Kamloops has been blanketed with smoke and the air quality is too unhealthy for outdoor athletic activities.It
Kamloops Dragon Boat Festival
Shuswap Dragon Boat Festival
Our first festival of the 2026 season was on Saturday June 20th in Salmon Arm. Mother Nature made her presence known as high winds made for very wavy conditions. After a 90 minute delay and a reorganization of the race course, the festival got underway much to the delight of both our new and experienced paddlers. Our team did so well in our three races and placed a very close third place finish in the Ladies B division.
Vernon Dragon Boat Festival
The second festival that we attended this season took place on Saturday July 18th on Swan Lake in Vernon. This is a smaller festival mainly consisting of teams from the Thompson/Shuswap and Okanagan regions.We couldn’t have asked for better hospitality or weather. The sun shone throughout the day, but a light breeze kept temperatures comfortable and no smoke settled into the valley. Each team had three races. We were happy to improve our time with each race and had an exciting finish to win the Ladies B Final.
The Tradition of the Flower Ceremony
As a breast cancer survivor only team, every dragon boat festival that the Spirit Warriors participate in must have a Flower Ceremony. This heartfelt tradition began in 1997 with a Vancouver breast cancer team tossing pink carnations into the water after their final race in order to honour a teammate who was facing a recurrence of the disease. The tradition quickly spread to other dragon boat festivals across North America and then worldwide.
During the Flower Ceremony, breast cancer survivors and those affected by the disease come together to celebrate and offer hope to survivors, and to honour and remember those who are no longer with us. The ceremony takes place after the final breast cancer survivor race and consists of a short speech from a survivor, touching music accompanied by the waving of pink flowers, and finally the throwing of the flowers into the water either from the boats or from the shore.
