Not some sub-level on Dungeons & Dragons or a scene from the next Harry Potter…

Rather, the Pittsburgh Dragonboat Festival, taking place this Saturday over on the South Side from 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

If you’ve never seen it or even heard of it before, well, that’s because it’s still pretty new to our region – but the sport has been going on in China for centuries (it’s actually one of the oldest sports known that is still raced competitively). Take 20 (willing, gullible or foolhardy) people and cram them into a long boat, add a drummer and a person to steer the damn thing and decorate everything with ‘dragonphernalia’ et voila! you have dragonboating.

The Pittsburgh festival is now in its fifth year, and comes on the back of our two local teams (the Steel City Dragons and the Pittsburgh Paddlefish) becoming more competitive on the national level. Teams will be coming in from DC, Philadelphia, New York and even Toronto to challenge for the title of ‘Pittsburgh Champions’.
Go cheer – go eat Chinese food – go get your dragon on!