Here be dragons

The Grand River will be filled with dragons Sunday. Luckily, none of the dragons will be able to breathe fire.

The river will be filled with traditional Chinese dragon boats — paddled longboats elaborately decorated with dragon heads, scales and tails. The boats will compete in the fourth annual Capital City Dragon Boat Race, a fundraiser benefitting the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing.

A popular Chinese sport, dragon boat racing has been around for over 2,000 years Some experts argue that the races date back to roughly 800 B.C., the same era as the first Olympic games. More recently, the sport has become popular in the United States, drawing tens of thousands of spectators per year to races held all over the country.

Though most people will come down to Adado Riverfront Park Sunday to watch the races, visitors will find several other attractions to check out. The all-day event includes free kids and family activities, vendors, food trucks and educational performances designed to teach attendees about traditional Chinese culture.

This is the second year that the race will be hosted by the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing, an organization that provides services like support groups and counseling to women in the Lansing area.

“We were asked to take over the event by the Greater Lansing Sports Authority and the Lansing Entertainment and Public Facilities Authority,” said Cindie Alwood, executive director of the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing. “A lot of the charity dragon boat races around the country are done for breast cancer survivors. And because we have a cancer survivor program, they thought it would be a better fit.”

After the opening ceremonies, the races will start with time trials for the 14 teams to determine divisions. Each division will then compete in a bracket-style tournament.

The time trials begin at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, but interested spectators are also invited to watch the team practices on Saturday, held from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“Saturday is practice day, and that’s interesting just to watch,” Alwood said. “There won’t be vendors there, but we do all the training and everything so (participants) don’t have to know how to paddle a dragon boat beforehand. They can learn right there.”

Each dragon boat holds 20 people: 18 paddlers, a drummer and a flag catcher. The course begins at the Lansing City Market and stretches 300 meters north to Adado Riverfront Park. The best places for spectators to view the race are the east and west banks of the park or the Shiawassee Street bridge. There will be an awards ceremony afterwards, including awards for the winners of the races and an award for the best “team theme,” which celebrates the team with the most creative apparel and team spirit.

—HELEN MURPHY

Capital City Dragon Boat Race

8:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 30 FREE Adado Riverfront Park, Lansing (517) 372-9163 capitalcitydragonboat.com