About Lake Hernando Dragon Boat Festival

The Lake Hernando Dragon Boat Festival is held in Citrus County, on Lake Hernando, with our latest event held on Saturday, November 14, 2015. A committee of dragon boat paddlers and event planners, county representatives and tourism professionals were on hand to bring fun, competition and recreation to one of Citrus County’s beautiful parks.

We want to thank the teams that participated, all the food vendors, all that were a part of our Arts and Crafts Village, our wonderful volunteers and the community for making our event the success it’s meant to be.

Our event included local and regional teams coming together to race against each other in a series of heats. Novice teams are provided with instruction and all of the necessary equipment to race. For more information about forming a team, CLICK HERE..

The event began at 9 am and concluded at approximately 5 pm. Spectators gathered in the beautiful Lake Hernando Park with their lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy the festivities.  Everyone was able to enjoy live music, food and drink vendors, arts and craft vendors and a kid’s play area with inflatables! A fun day was had for the whole family!

We want to thank everyone who participated and helped make our event possible. All the teams, both local and those that came in from out of town, our sponsors, our volunteers, the Elks Club, the Chamber of commerce, our vendors and especially the community for coming out.

We would also appreciate feedback on how we can make the festival better, so please contact Andy at [email protected] or call 352.201.6500. Our goal is to make the Lake Hernando Dragon Boat Festival the GO TO event for dragon boat racing.

Below is the final race results. We also created a Photo Gallery of the event on race day for your enjoyment.

(Click On Image To Download)

Thanks To All The Teams Who Participated

This festival is focused on community involvement and charitable giving. For more information on the recipients of the event proceeds, please scroll down to the Event Beneficiaries section below.

VENUE MAP

 

 Watch this video to see what the Lake Hernando Dragon Boat Festival is all about!

The Event Beneficiaries

The Citrus County Veterans Foundation, Inc.

Purpose: The Citrus County Veterans Foundation, Inc. operates as an apolitical, not-for-profit organization to secure and distribute contributions from individuals, corporations, governmental entities and private groups, exclusively for charitable and educational purposes, within the parameters of the Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3).

The Foundation’s charitable efforts support the Citrus County Veterans Service Office with funds to provide short-term monetary assistance to honorably discharged veterans and surviving spouses, with urgent financial needs. The Foundation’s educational activities inform the community at-large about local veterans’ needs and apprise the veterans’ community of available financial assistance and social services.

Mission: To serve as a voluntary fundraising and educational arm in support of the Citrus County Veterans Service Office

About Dragon Boating

With a history of more than 2,500 years, the sport of dragon boating originated in ancient China. The legends include warring states, radical politics and fierce loyalty and passion written poetically by one man – Qu Yuan. This man was exiled from the land that he loved, and in turn committed suicide in the Miluo River in a final form of protest against the corruption of his era. During an attempt to save Qu Yuan, the locals took to the river in their fishing boats, splashing their paddles to keep the water demons and evil spirits away.

Modern day dragon boating has few elements to this ancient tale remaining. However, it has evolved into a worldwide competitive sport, bringing together millions across the globe annually. Festivals with traditional Asian flare and culture are commonplace alongside a dragon boat race in recent years. High level competitions have also been organized since the mid 1970s.

But the sport’s growth has been most commonly found at the grassroots level. Dragon boating has become an extremely popular vehicle for fundraising, and tool for corporate team building. Local communities combine these two concepts to breath new life into their waterfront areas, and to stimulate their local economy.

Teams are formed with 18-25 people from all walks of life. Any age, size, ability and gender can learn to paddle on a dragon boat team. 20 paddlers are seated in 10 rows of 2 with a drummer sitting in the bow, facing the paddlers. The paddler’s job is to paddle in unison with the entire team. The drummer’s job is to beat the drum in sync with the paddlers and to motivate their team to the finish line. A steersperson (provided by the festival) stands in the stern of the boat, guiding the boat straight down the race course with a 10-foot oar.