The Delta Dragon Boat Races will make its way back to Greenville in September along the waters of Lake Ferguson.
The event is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Sept. 7 at at Schleben Park, Greenville Lake Ferguson waterfront.
Mayor Errick Simmons along with the Delta Boat Races Steering Committee hosted a press conference Tuesday morning in front of Greenville City Hall to discuss the updates with the Delta Dragon Boat Race.
“We’re very pleased to bring the Delta Boat Dragon Festival back to the city of Greenville. It started when John Cox was mayor and I was on the committee and we had a ball,” Simmons said. “We want to return that livelihood and that life of rowing boats back here. So on Sept. 7, we’re going to give our folks in Greenville, Mississippi Delta and Mississippi as a whole, a little piece of Asian Culture with this dragon boat race.”
The motto for this year’s boat race is “the Delta Boat Races may have started with a commitment by a few, but joined by the many such investment will serve to the betterment of our great community.”
A dragon boat team consists of 10 rowers and 1 drummer.
The event will be free and open to the public.
Proceeds will go to Greenville Renaissance Scholars, Camp Looking Glass and Greenville Youth Soccer Association, which are all non-profit organizations. Donations to the Delta Dragon Boat Races Fund, which is affiliated with the Community Foundation of Washington County (CFWC), can be made at CFWC’s secure website at cfwashco.org. Be sure to designate the donation to the Delta Dragon Boat Races Fund.
Dragon Boat Races advocate Dr. Brunswick Wong said he wants the community to be a part of an event that offers the opportunity for businesses, organizations, individuals and sponsors to participate in the unique, action-packed, family friendly water sport competition that puts the “fun” in fundraising.
“Your dragon boat team will engage in healthy and good-hearted competition, that exemplifies team-building and the value of working together towards a common goal while having a great time, as well as to foster a strong sense of community pride,” Wong said.
There are 20-plus teams that have signed up and it’s not too late for more to join the action.
The Delta Dragon Boat Race steering committee is even donating two boats to Greenville’s first responders.
The sponsors are set up by silver, bronze and friends of youth.
Silver: Farmers Grain Terminal, Inc and TransCanada Pipeline.
Bronze: SouthGroup Insurance and Financial Services, LLC; Mills Supplies, Inc; Guaranty Bank and Trust Company; Mississippi Marine Corp; Monsanto; and Trop Casino/Tropicana Entertainment.
Friends of Youth: Planters Bank and Trust; Oaks Toyota; Greenville Motor Sports; Shirley and Richard Woo-Kan; Family Eye Care; Rebecca Goodman; Donald Reynolds, Sr.; Paul Baylock; Double Quick; Bridges, Goodman, Baird and Clarke, PLLC; Delta Democrat Times; Life in the Delta; and Delta News.
For information on where to sign up or further information about the event, go to their website at deltadragonboatraces.com, their facebook page at Delta Dragon Boat Races or contact Ms. Diane Edwards Floyd at 662-822-5446 or by email at lakelife1831@gmail.com.
