Texarkana Dragon Boat Festival Saturday April 29

It's almost time for the second annual Texarkana Dragon Boat Festival and you still have time to get a team together and race with the dragons.

It all takes place Saturday, April 29, at Bringle Lake Park in Texarkana, Texas. The fun gets started at 9AM and runs til 5PM. If you're interested in getting a team together you need between 18 to 22 people to row the boat and one person to be the drummer. The drummer's job is to keep the paddlers in sync with each other.

The boats, paddles, life jackets and drums are all provided. You can register a team or you can register as an individual if you can't gather enough people for a team and you'll be added to an existing team. All proceeds benefit HandsOn Texarkana, our area's volunteer center.

There will also be food vendors and live music throughout the day.

According to the Texarkana Dragon Race website:

With a history of more than 2,500 years, the sport of dragon boating originated in ancient China.  The legends include warring9 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.