An of­fi­cial state­ment from the Chi­nese Bi­cen­ten­ni­al Lim­it­ed (CBL) de­clares, “Drag­on Boat Rac­ing is back!”

The 15th An­nu­al Chi­nese Ar­rival Drag­on Boat Fes­ti­val will take place from 9 am on Sat­ur­day 8 and Sun­day 9 Oc­to­ber 2022, with drag­on boat teams com­pet­ing in var­i­ous cat­e­gories through­out both days.

This year’s fes­ti­val com­mem­o­rates the 216th An­niver­sary of the Ar­rival of the first group of 194 Chi­nese per­sons to ar­rive in Trinidad and To­ba­go on the ship called “For­ti­tude”.

The event is free of charge and open to the pub­lic.

“The pop­u­lar sport­ing event—host­ed by the Chi­nese Bi­cen­ten­ni­al Lim­it­ed (CBL) and the Trinidad & To­ba­go Drag­on Boat Fed­er­a­tion in as­so­ci­a­tion with the Em­bassy of the Peo­ple’s Re­pub­lic of Chi­na—will take place at Skally­wag Bay Ad­ven­ture Park, Ch­aguara­mas,” the CBL said in a re­lease.

Drag­on Boat Races will be­gin on Sat­ur­day, Oc­to­ber 8, from 9 am.  The races will con­tin­ue at 9 am on Sun­day, Oc­to­ber 9, with fi­nals in the af­ter­noon.

“At 10:30 am, the tra­di­tion­al dot­ting of the eyes will take place, with Chi­nese Cul­tur­al en­ter­tain­ment and mar­tial arts through­out the day,” the CBL notes, adding, “Chi­nese food and del­i­ca­cies will be on sale.”

The CBL says this year’s cel­e­bra­tions are made pos­si­ble with sup­port from the Em­bassy of the Peo­ple’s Re­pub­lic of Chi­na; all the Chi­nese Dis­trict, Cul­tur­al and Busi­ness As­so­ci­a­tions and the Chi­nese busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty; and Shield Se­cu­ri­ty Ser­vices Lim­it­ed.