The Penticton Dragon Boat Festival is well-loved.

Some of the reasons include the job organizer Don Mulhall and his crew, along with volunteers, do organizing it, as well as the venue at Skaha Park.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 ask for a more beautiful spot for a festival; that is the best part of it,鈥� said Raison, a member of the Despirit Housewives women鈥檚 team. 鈥淭here is room to set up, a built-in beer garden. This is one of the best.鈥�

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Raison鈥檚 next favourite festival is in Victoria.

Mulhall said the number for the festival is a good indicator of people liking the event.

鈥淚鈥檝e been to a couple of events and people there were just raving about, 鈥極h, we can鈥檛 wait for Penticton. It鈥檚 our favourite festival of the year. It鈥檚 kind of our season wrap up,鈥欌�� said Mulhall. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got a really cool venue. Skaha Park is just beautiful. It鈥檚 green grass and trees and you are loading and unloading on a sandy beach.鈥�

Eighty-four teams are competing in the women鈥檚, mixed and breast cancer divisions. Raison believes the festival attracts that many teams is for the reasons she loves the race. She and the rest of the Despirit Housewives love the level of competition and that they never know what it is going to be like or where they will place.

鈥淲e like to be competitive, and our coaches have been training us to be competitive, but we will have to see what happens,鈥� said Raison. 鈥淭he entire event, there is such an uplifting feeling. Everybody is supportive. Anybody can dragon boat. It鈥檚 the inclusiveness of the sport that I like.鈥�

Penny Seeley of the Peach City Dragons mixed team loves the atmosphere, partially created by the music and supported by the great vendors available. She also likes how often races are scheduled, going every 10 minutes.

鈥淭here is always something to watch,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he venue is spectator friendly.鈥�

Among the cities teams are travelling from are Leduc, Alta.; Edmonton, Calgary, Abbotsford, Richmond, Salmon Arm and Christina Lake.

Mulhall mainly hopes that teams are safe while having a good time in competitive races. He has been constantly monitoring the smoke conditions. Races won鈥檛 be cancelled, but the distances could be shortened from 500 metres to between 200 and 250 m. That will help the paddlers breathe in less of the smoky air.

When talking about the numbers, he admits to having a lot of teams. He always claims they will cut the entry number off at 80.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not very good at cutting off,鈥� he laughed.

The breast cancer field, which includes local Survivorship, is the largest they have had. The celebration for the breast cancer survivors is hoped to start at noon, but he said could be sooner depending on how the schedule goes.

Below is the schedule for the festival.

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