For the past two decades, the Lake Superior Dragon Boat Festival has attracted hundreds of people to Barker’s Island. The annual event is hosted by the Superior Rotary Club and funds raised benefit the 23rd Veteran’s, a nonprofit organization that helps veterans and family members who have served in our armed forces.

Mark Leutgeb is a longtime volunteer who has participated in the Lake Superior Dragon Boat Festival for the past 10 years. He says he comes back every year because he loves how fast the teams paddle through the marina.

“There’s nothing like the feeling of all 20 people paddling together and just gliding, just gliding. The best part is it usually takes about two minutes,” Leutgeb said. “So if you can work hard for two minutes, you can paddle a dragon boat. If you’ve ever canoed, you can paddle a dragon boat. It’s super easy and a lot of fun.”

People travel from all over to watch or participate in the Dragon Boat Festival. Many teams also support a good cause to raise awareness of the disease, such as a team from Canada called Chemo Savvy. Yvonne Beaudin, Maureen Matthews and Sylvie Mathers say they are raising awareness of breast cancer.

“We are all breast cancer survivors. We all had breast cancer once. We survived 30 years, maybe a couple of years,” Mathers said. “Our goal is to prove there is life after cancer,” Matthews added.

One of the most important aspects of the Lake Superior Dragon Boat Festival is teamwork. Everyone in the boat has to find their way across the water.

“Everyone should try it. It’s a team sport. It’s not an individual sport. It doesn’t matter how good or how unathletic you are,” Matthews said. “You get in the boat, you’re a team, you work together and it’s fun. For three minutes, anyone can do anything, and that’s how long a race lasts.”

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