HandsOn Texarkana's third annual Dragon Boat Festival is slated to take place April 21 at Bringle Lake Park. Teams will start arriving at the park around 7:30 a.m., and the first race will take to the water at 9 a.m.
The event has grown each year, and organizers anticipate having close to 30 teams participating in this year's dragon boat races. There were 24 teams last year, up from 14 teams the first year.
Teams are formed of 18 to 25 people. There are several categories of racers, including men's and women's classifications, mixed class, open class and youth for kids 12 to 18. Team registration is open.
The Dragon Boat Festival has been a big hit for HandsOn Texarkana so far, and organizers expect it to keep growing.
"The reason it's so popular is because it's a family, community event," said Kathey Graves, HandsOn executive director. "We had 5,000 people in the park last year and I think we could see double that this year. Teams actually tailgate and it's just a fun day. They bring their families out and play games all day when they aren't racing. We've gotten nothing but positive feedback from the last two years. People may not have known who HandsOn Texarkana was before even though we've been in town for about 50 years, but they know who we are now and that we have the dragon boat races."
The public is encouraged to bring their lawn chairs or blankets and come watch all the fun. There will be music, food vendors, races and more.
HandsOn Texarkana has set a goal of raising $25,000 to $30,000 this year. The money will be used to support its programs in the community providing seniors transportation, youth volunteerism, a skilled-parenting program, disaster preparedness and its program which helps local nonprofits find needed volunteers.
"We use this money to promote the programs in the community so we don't have to charge any recipients of our programs. This fundraiser supports all those programs," Graves said.
The cost for teams to participate in the Dragon Boat Festival is $1,200 for corporate teams or $900 for nonprofits. High Five Dragon Boat LLC provides the boats for the races and produces the event.
Sponsors are still needed for the event.
For more information, visit Texarkanadragonboatfestival.com.