Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival Returns to Celebrate Sport, Culture, and Joyful Community
The summer begins in a big way with the return of the Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival, happening June 20-22, 2025 at Concord Pacific Place (its new home) and False Creek. This year’s Dragon Boat Festival will be the largest ever held, with an exciting array of programming, encompassing thrilling races, diverse cultural pavilions and performances, and plenty of delicious food and drink. Juno Award winners Lights and Felix Cartal headline the TD Main Stage, which spotlights a packed line-up of amazing local talent.
The Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival has a long and rich history that began when Vancouver hosted Expo 86. Drawing upon a Chinese festival called Double Fifth, the Chinese Canadian community held exhibition races in False Creek featuring six teak boats from Hong Kong. The races were so well received that the Festival became an annual event on the same site, growing to be one of the most globally recognized dragon boat festivals.
Even with such success, the Festival (organized by the Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival Society) continues to stay true to its local roots, making it a distinctly—and beloved—Vancouver cultural event. Over two hundred thousand people are expected attend, with the event attracting 5,000 to 6,000 visitors to the city. Attendees appreciate the event’s championing of all things local, including in its selection of artists, musicians, and vendors.
This year will be particularly special because it will reunite over a thousand breast cancer survivors who participate in the sport around the world. Abreast in a Boat (AIAB), which inspires breast cancer survivors through dragon boating, celebrates its 30th anniversary. The movement emerged from the work of Dr. Don McKenzie, a sports medicine researcher at UBC. In 1996, McKenzie introduced 24 women to dragon boat paddling in order to determine the impacts of upper-body exercise on breast cancer survivors. What he discovered was amazing: none of the women developed lymphedema, and they also experienced numerous benefits, including better health, empowerment, and social connection.
This year, Abreast in a Boat will hold 30th Anniversary Celebrations at the Festival. The festivities include a 30th Anniversary Global Reunion Party on June 20, with speeches by Dr. McKenzie and the "Original" paddlers, and a flower ceremony on June 22. Abreast in a Boat will also hold a AIAB 30th Anniversary Paddlers Division at the Festival. And, attendees can visit a Breast Cancer Paddler Pavilion, in partnership with AIAB, which educates about and honours the continued legacy of McKenzie’s program.
The athleticism of dragon boating clearly has benefits for all. Festival attendees will cheer on teams from Canada and ten other nations as they compete in races from 8am June 21 to 8pm on June 22 (medal rounds on June 22 12:30pm onwards). These include a Junior Mixed, Premier Mixed, Premier Women, and a Premier Open (all 500m), with top teams from the latter three progressing to 2000m Guts and Glory Grand Finals.
Abreast in Boat will hold a Breast Cancer Open Division involving 500m races. Also exciting to watch are the 100m sprint Specialty Cup Races: the Pride Cup, Senior Cup, and the Para Cup. These races highlight the inclusivity and accessibility of the Festival and dragon boating.
Races—which use a special fleet of boats—will begin near the Cambie Street Bridge and finish in front of Concord Pacific Place. Screens will broadcast the races on site; as well, live-streaming will occur at concordlive.ca and Dragon Boat BC's YouTube channel.
The Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival showcases athletics, but also vibrant arts and culture—with a particular focus on BIPOC, queer, and female artists. The TD Main Stage will feature local headliners Lights and Felix Cartal, both Juno Award winners and incredibly talented and beloved artists. Other all-local performers to look forward to include Coastal Wolf Pack, NIKKAELA, Tiger Really, and RICECAKE, an Asian drag and DJ collective that will hold a Summer Solstice dance wrap-up party. Concord Community Stage will showcase family-friendly performances, like a workshop/performance by Vancouver Cantonese Opera, along with activities (e.g., free face painting), roaming performers, and a Draw for the Future Colouring Contest at the Concord Pacific Community Zone.
The Festival’s celebration of culture extends to its pavilions, which will highlight Vancouver’s diversity through educational displays, demonstrations, activities, and community/vendor booths. Attendees can visit the Indigenous Pavilion, which will honour the cultures and traditions of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations on whose traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands and waters the Festival takes place. There will also be a Chinatown Pavilion to connect the Festival to the city’s rich Chinese Canadian culture; a Pride Pavilion, displaying the achievements and solidarity of queer sports teams/leagues; and a Breast Cancer Paddler Pavilion, connecting dragon boating to the strength of breast cancer survivors. Also, make sure to check out the Dragon Boat Pubic Art Program, spotlighting the artists who created artwork for the boats this year, as well as the Expo 86 Original Teak Dragon Boat Display.
Over a hundred local vendors will be displaying and selling their unique goods in a large artisan market organized by Got Craft. Browse for handcrafted gifts, like jewelry, pottery, and gourmet food products.
All the cheering and touring of the Festival site is sure to work up an appetite for the delicious offerings from over twenty food trucks, which specialize in an array of international cuisines that are locally produced. In addition, enjoy spectacular views on Vancouver's largest waterfront licensed patio.
In the exciting lead-up to the big Festival, those interested in getting involved in dragon boating can take part in a Community Paddling Day, the next one slated for May 25, 2025 (1pm, 2pm, 3pm; 45 min each) at Creekside Community Centre in Olympic Village. For $2 (going to charities and community groups), participants will get introduced to the sport by a guide, with equipment provided. The next one will be led by volunteers from Juice, a top team that won a bronze medal at the 2024 World Championships.
Each of the three community paddling days a year has a theme, and often involves a community partnership (e.g., a drag queen-led session with Vancouver Pride). May 25’s Birds Nest Properties Community Paddling Day will have the theme of water quality, educating on a research study on False Creek's water quality by the Raincoast Conservation Foundation and False Creek Friends, in partnership with the City of Vancouver. Their mobile water quality lab, Tracker, will be there, as well as the directors of False Creek Friends to answer any questions. Registration is available here.
And finally, a really great event to get in the spirit of dragon boating is the Vessi 500 Championship, the second biggest dragon boat race nationally, which is happening May 31, 2025, at False Creek.
Attending these two events is sure to raise the anticipation for the Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival, kicking off what is going to be an incredible, action-packed summer in Vancouver!
So, make sure to attend the Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival (June 20-22, 2025), happening at Concord Pacific Place (the Fest's new home this year) and False Creek. All of the Festival's incredible athletic, cultural, and community programming—including its headlining artists (Lights and Felix Cartal)—is FREE and welcoming to all. The Festival is accessible across the street from the Stadium-Chinatown SkyTrain station, and a quick walk from Yaletown - Roundhouse Station. Bike lockups will be situated outside Science World, Creekside Community Centre, and Andy Livingstone Park. Pay parking can be found at Parq Vancouver.