Safety concern over strong north winds may have cancelled the races at the Saint John Dragon Boat event this weekend but didn’t sink the festival.
The festival committee was forced to postpone then later cancel the races after only two races had taken place.
Special events coordinator Jill Logan tells us they always have to look at safety first and they decided it wasn’t worth the possibility of having one of their boats tip over.
“When a boat is 40 feet long and you have to make a turn in it, when you’ve got a little bit of a chop like that it can be a little tricky,” says Logan.
“We waited in the morning we got a couple of races in, and we looked at the wind and it was supposed to pick up through the day so we just had to make the call unfortunately.”
Despite the races being cancelled, everyone seemed to have a good time according to Logan, who says they were lucky in that at least it was a nice day.
“We still had the entertainment here, music, and games for the kids and our vendors so all of that was still going on. So we made the best of it and enjoyed the day.”
At the closing ceremonies it was announced that the total raised to date is $190,000 for the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation.
The date has also been announced for next year’s event: it’s happening on August 26.
