"The International Dragon Boat Association's mission is community and youth development and the preservation of art and culture locally, nationally, and internationally using the sport of dragon boat racing. It is the intention and wishes of this body of volunteers to preserve art and culture, promote better understanding among all people, to perform charity work to help the most vulnerable in our society, and by our example, nurture and guide our most precious asset, our children, toward worthy achievements and responsible citizenship."

To promote solidarity and purpose, we have a theme every year. In 1997, our theme was, "Silver Dragons" in honor of our elders, in 1998 it was, "Children of the Dragon" in support of our children and youth, and in 1999 it was, "Hungry Dragon" to help highlight the importance of assuring that people have good "quality" food. In Year 2000, our theme was "Dragon 21" to celebrate the Year of the Dragon as we approach the 21st Century and in 2001 our theme was "eDragons" as we attempted to balance tradition with technology. In 2002, we rallied around "Dragon Spirit" and finally in 2003, it was "Dancing with Dragons" featuring all manners of cultural dance to showcase all of our diverse heritage.

After 8 long years of organizing and producing the annual festival, the organizers have decided to take a year off to focus on our youth program and to focus all of our modest resources to getting the Youth Dragon Boat Racing Program more formally established. While the festival has become ever so popular (with attendance increasing 700% over 8 years), we have found that it increasingly diverts resources away from our original mission . . . to provide our regional youth with an alternative sport which would both engage them and teach them the importance of community involvement and participation. To this end, we will be holding our 8th Annual festival in 2005 (August 13-14) and creating a summer program for youth under the Oakland Parks and Recreation Department (novice youth teams) and the Jack London Aquatic Center (advance youth teams). Adult paddling will still be available for local teams by registering a team, paying for coach/training (e.g., $1,000/team for 8 sessions) or boats/equipment rental (e.g., $75/hour), and scheduling a weekly time/day.

The 8th Annual California International Dragon Boat Festival will be held on August 13 & 14, 2005 with a theme of, "Return of the Dragon". Come watch the dragon boat races in the Oakland/San Francisco Bay waters in front of Jack London Square then. It will be another fun-filled weekend featuring performing and visual artists from all over the region, fine arts and wine tasting, great food and a happy little play area for children. Complimenting this presentation will be our art education project, "Artists Alley with Artists in Motion". We invite all local artists to prepare a presentation in 2005. Racers and spectators and invited back next year for a culturally rich and stimulating experience for the whole family.