Concord Community Stage, Pavilions, and Roaming Shows

Dragon boat comes from an ancient Chinese tradition that is equal parts racing and culture, but also a showcase of the local community. Join us on Championship Weekend and explore the interactions between tradition and the current-day multicultural communities that make up our social fabric.

Concord Community Stage and Medal Podium at the Concord Pacific Presentation Centre

The expanded Concord Community Stage celebrates the best of our community, and creates valuable moments for visitors of all generations to come together and enjoy the start of summer! From live music, Indigenous cultural demonstrations, engaging local dance troupes, interactive traditional Chinese opera workshops, and storytelling, you won’t want to miss it. And, on Sunday afternoon, the Stage becomes the centre of attention as the champions for the 2025 Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival are crowned and the medals presented!

Concord Pacific Community Zone at the Concord Pacific Presentation Centre

Draw for the Future Colouring Contest

Concord Pacific is bringing back its popular colouring contest, where children from ages 6 to 8 and 9 to 12 will have the chance to win one of two RESP contributions. Advance registration recommended to participate: please watch for details coming soon!

Family Activities

Visit the Concord Community Zone for complimentary face painting, balloon twisting, and other field games. Plus, grab a bite and catch the races from the food truck area in the zone and the race livestream screen!

Pavilion Programs at the Concord Pacific Presentation Centre

Chinatown Pavilion  |  With the support of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

Learn about the deep traditions behind the dragon boat festival, and its origins in Vancouver’s Chinatown with family-friendly arts and craft activities, and displays from local community partner organizations based in Chinatown.

• Activities and Demonstration Times (10:00 AM-6:00 PM)
• Dragon Boat Festival Themed Arts and Crafts
• Interactive calligraphy demonstrations with Buddha Boards 
• Traditional Chinese Calligraphy Master demonstrations
• Tea Ceremony Demonstrations
• Fortune Telling Demonstrations
• Merchandise created by local Chinatown artists
• Guessing and matching games to test your knowledge of Chinese culture
• Community engagement booths from the Chinese Canadian Museum, Chinatown Storytelling Centre, Hon Hsing Athletic Club
• Hon Hsing Athletic Club Performances (roaming the site from 12:00-2:30 PM)
  

Indigenous Pavilion

The Festival is hosted on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands and waters of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. As part of our ongoing work to share our space with Indigenous communities and to honour the centuries of interconnection between Chinese and Indigenous communities, we are pleased to work with local Indigenous artists, elders, and organizations to program the Indigenous Cultural Pavilion. 

Activities and Demonstration Times (10:00 AM-6:00 PM)

• Please watch for information soon! 

Pride Pavilion  |  In partnership with Vancouver Pride Society and community partners

Paddle with pride; we’re proud to welcome back the Pride Pavilion for 2025! has been a place where the queer community can come together, including through teams and the Pride Cup. And as Vancouver gets set for Pride in August and celebrates Pride Month in June, the Festival excited to partner with Vancouver Pride Society and its community partners to showcase queer sports leagues and teams operating in our community.

Activities and Demonstration Times (10:00 AM-6:00 PM)

• Vancouver Pride information and ticket sales
• Pride button making and prize giveaway
• Drag queen photo booth
• Drawing station
• Pride merchandise

Dragon Boat Public Art Program at the TD Main Stage Zone and Concord Pacific Place

A special public art program is on display at the Festival, showcasing 9 different artists that created artwork around the theme of community, culture, and competition for the boats being used exclusively once a year during the Festival’s races. See the boats race on land, and see the artwork up close on land around the site! Artists include:

• Bagua Artist Association: Bedecked with Pearls and Glimmering Jade
• Carmen Chan: Rice and Rain
• Chairman Ting: Billion Buns
• Chepximiya Siyam/Chief Janice George and Skwetsimeltxw Willard ‘Buddy’ Joseph: Midnight Lightning
• Debra Sparrow: A Hundred Years of History
• Derek Tam: Convergence
• Joslyn Reid: Good Sport
• Kari Kristensen: Paper Boats
• Ocean Hyland: People of the Inlet

Expo 86 Original Teak Dragon Boat Display at Concord Pacific Place

See one of the original teak boats used at Expo 86 to launch dragon boat racing in Canada! After being restored in 2017, the boat now returns to Vancouver and False Creek as part of a mobile display to reconnect paddlers to their heritage. The display will also feature archival clippings from when the boats were originally unveiled in 1986, as well as information on dragon boat’s evolution in Vancouver. With the support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Toronto).

Festival Protocol and Ceremonial Programs

2025 Festival Blessing Ceremony – Awakening of the Dragons |  Saturday June 14, 1:30 PM  |  1 Athletes Way

An ancient ceremony conducted on the shores of False Creek. Join us as we carry on an important tradition into the modern era.  

The Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival Society is honoured to invite you to witness an ancient Taoist blessing and eye-dotting ceremony. Be present as our dragon boats come to life for the first time, and the spirit of the dragon is summoned to the water in advance of the Festival. This event is conducted by the International Taoist Church of Canada.

Click here to learn more.

• FREE ADMISSION
• Creekside Paddling Centre/Dragon Zone Paddling Club, 1 Athletes Way
• For media inquiries, please email [email protected]

Cultural programs presented with the support of:

 Click here for the previous year’s Cultural and Roaming Performance schedules and programming.