Dragon boats cut through the placid water and fog at Lake Luxembourg at Core Creek Park in Middletown Saturday.
Saturday’s inaugural Bucks County Dragon Boat Festival hosted by the Bucks County Dragon Boat Association drew 48 teams, including some from as far away as Baltimore and Washington D.C., according to association cofounder Laurie McHugh.
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From morning until late in the afternoon, 41-foot boats holding 20 paddlers with a steerperson and drummer slid across the water during various races. Teams of various ages and experience levels competed in 300 meter and 500 meter races. At the end of the event, the winning teams were presented with trophies.
Throughout the day, thousands of people filtered through the festival.
“This has a benefit for Bucks County with all these people coming in to see the dragon boats,” Visit Bucks County Vice President Paul Bencivengo said of the event.
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St. Mary Medical Center sponsored the large event and also had several teams made up of hospital staff and volunteers. Terri Rivera, vice president of mission and community health for the medical center, said money raised during the festival will benefit the Bucks County Housing Group food pantries in Doylestown, Penndel and Milford Square. The pantries help more than 2,100 at-risk Bucks County families with food to last them for three days.
“Bucks County looks like an affluent area, but there are plenty of families who are hungry,” she said. “This money will help feed them.”
McHugh said Bucks County-based dragon boat teams practice at Core Creek Park and in New Hope. She said planning for the festival has been in the works for more than a year.
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