Dragons on the Red

Be on the look out for some seriously cool looking boats on the Red River this fall.

Think of a cross between a war canoe race and some sort of oriental pageantry. The boats are skinny and long and decorated with scales and reptilian grins. Twenty sweaty paddlers provide the power, a guy banging Chinese drums provides the rhythm and a lucky guy in the back gets to steer.

Facility Marketing Group, the organizers of the Manitoba Dragon Boat Festival, said Tuesday that they're bringing their show to Grand Forks Sept. 30. They'll come back again in 2007 and 2008 and, if things work out for them, every year after that.

Credit goes to the Convention and Visitors Bureau for getting FMG down here. Scott Walker, the owner, said he was going to hit Minneapolis first but CVB people were so aggressive he decided to go with Grand Forks.

This would be yet another annual event for downtown Grand Cities. All summer we have the Farmer's Market. In June we've got ArtFest. In August we've got that Cats Incredible thing, which my stomach knows better as Chili Fest. In December we have First Night, which is really Last Night or First Morning. By attending, I'm suppose to avoid First Hangover.