Sea Vancouver is a multi-venue festival.  We started off at 9am,
from the Creekside site for the dragon boat regatta.  There were
many booths on the blacktopped site North of the children's playground
– but very few festival patrons.  Thank goodness for the dragon
boat teams that made the site come alive.  We pitched tents and
laid out blankets as 35 odd teams sit up a mini-tent city for the day.

A stage set up featured live musicians, lots of food and merchandise
booths.  Dragon boat paddlers watched the races from the Creekside
dock platforms overlooking the squatter boats.  3 races for each
team.  A 100m, 250m, and a 500m race.  Unfortunately, the
race grid always rotated high seed with low seed teams, so we never got
to race many teams of the same calibre as ourselves.

Following the race's conclusion, we invited the dragon boat team to
check out the Maritime Point site.  Paddler Dave Samis and I ate
some donairs for lunch, then started working on carving the dragon boat
head.  Our carving site was much busier than on either Thursday or
Friday.  People come  up to the booth, seeing the sign
“Gung  Haggis Fat Choy” and asking if we are serving haggis as a
food dish.  “No,” we reply, “It's a multicultural carving
booth.  Gung Haggis Fat Choy is a concept of cross-cultural
integration which recognizes BC's Scottish and Chinese ancestry. 
We race dragon boats and host a Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner.

 
“Oh… I've heard of that before.
“I've seen the tv show.”
“Do you have any haggis won ton here now?”
“When is your next dinner?”
“How can I join a dragon boat team?”

Well, I guess we are doing the right job.  People's concepts of
multiculturalism are being pushed.  Responses are generally always
very positive.  They like what we are doing.