Fundraising Update: Making Every Dollar Count!
We are in the home stretch -- the 2018 Dragon Boat Festival is this coming Saturday! As of this email, you've raised $72,555.03 - that's almost 40% of our $188,000 goal for 2018... amazing work!! Let's keep pushing to meet our goals.
Make sure you're taking advantage of all the fundraising tools for participants registered online at ptbodragonboat.ca :
  • Use the Mail Centre to send pre-built email messages to friends and family - the wording is already provided!
  • Or, copy and paste your personal page link into your own email message for something totally unique
  • Remind your networks that when they sponsor you online, they'll get an immediate tax receipt in their email inbox
  • Share your progress with a single click on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram - let people know you're close to hitting your goal, and they'll step up to help!

The key thing to remember about fundraising?  They won't give... if you don't ASK!  Don't be shy about spreading the word: you're participating in an amazing initiative that will quite literally save lives. Who wouldn't want to support you in reaching your goal?!

Remember... as one of the thousands of paddlers, donors, sponsors and volunteers who support the Festival every year, you're helping to fund the vital technology that forms the backbone of outstanding cancer care at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre. Let's make this year our best yet!
Why We Paddle: Supporting Cancer Care
Did you know that without the laboratory, there would be no cancer care at your hospital? In fact, doctors rely on lab results to determine and confirm 100% of cancer diagnoses and treatment decisions.

That’s why this year, we’re directing the proceeds of the Festival to the PRHC Foundation to purchase two new tissue processors for the PRHC lab . With our help, technologists will be able to process samples taken during cancer biopsies and surgeries even more efficiently. The result? Pathologists will have what they need to make accurate breast cancer diagnoses and treatment recommendations even sooner. And that’s so important because two of the hardest things for cancer patients and their loved ones is the waiting and the uncertainty.

But the impact of your efforts won’t end there. Breast is just one of the cancers that this vital piece of technology will be used for. PRHC’s lab processes more than 20,000 cancer-related cases annually. That number represents thousands of additional people who will benefit from the Festival and its donors’ investment every single year. 

Keep up the great work and THANK YOU for #gettingintheboat !!!
Raised in the community.
Stays in the community.
Putting the FUN in Fundraising
Cool fundraiser alert! To support their Dragon Boat team (One Headlight), Siemens has installed a reserved parking lot sign at their office and are offering it up for auction. Bids are open for one month slots, starting July 2018 and ending July 2019. The auction is open until Friday, June 8th.

Thanks so much to the Siemens team for such a creative fundraising effort!


Has your team come up with an innovative way to raise funds this year? Share it with us on social media or by email !
Who's in the lead for top fundraising teams?
We still have several days of fundraising action left before the Dragon's Lair, Loft and Nest winners are decided! Our current front-runners for the top fundraising community teams are:
  1. RBC Queen Bees
  2. Blazing Paddles
  3. Chemong Docs Dudes and Dolls

It's far from over yet, so keep getting those donations in. The deadline for Dragon's Lair consideration for all online and offline donations is 12:00 noon on Thursday, June 7th. Offline pledges (cash or cheques) must be submitted to a Kawartha Credit Union branch before the deadline to be included. We'll be announcing the winning teams on Friday, June 8th.
Follow us on social media to get the latest updates and share your fundraising efforts!
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Race Day Schedule
We're excited to share the Race Day Schedule for 2018. Please visit the Festival Website to see the detailed schedule for the morning races.

  • 7:45 am – Team Captains meeting at the Volunteer/Waiver tent
  • 8:15 am – Awakening the Dragon (Opening Ceremony) featuring “The Dragon” and local dignitaries
  • 9:00 am – Morning races begin
  • 10:00 am – Vendor’s Village and Family Fun Zone open (until 3:00 pm)
  • 12:00 pm – Flower Ceremony featuring the Peterborough Pop Ensemble and TASS Drumming Group
  • 1:00 pm – Afternoon races begin
  • 3:30pm – Cup Races begin followed by award presentations
Get ready for lots of Festival-day activity!
It's going to be another exciting and busy Race Day this year. Make sure you've got all the latest info:

Additional space for team tents
New This Year : the closure on Crescent Street will be moved to allow teams to drop off supplies closer to the race site. Because there will be less protected space on Crescent Street, we have opened up a new location for team tents on the west side of Little Lake along the waterfront. NOTE: NO TENT PEGS PERMITTED IN THIS AREA due to the underground sprinkler system, but you can use water buckets and sand bags to anchor your tent if you wish. Please see the full site map on the Festival website for all team tent areas.

Getting To and From Festival
Parking is limited at Del Crary Park but the Festival has FREE shuttle buses running all day, courtesy of Coach Canada. New Route This Year:
  • Shuttle Bus #1 will run from the Evinrude Centre (south side) with a pick up at the Wolfe St. parking lot
  • Shuttle Bus #2 will run from the Simcoe St. City Bus Depot with a stop at the King St. parking lot.
The shuttles will run every 20 minutes with the first buses leaving the Evinrude Centre and Simcoe St. City Bus Depot at 7:30 am. Last bus leaves
the Festival at 4:15 pm.
Or, ride your bike and use secure bike rack parking at Del Crary Park, courtesy of Shifting Gears and the City of Peterborough.

One Stop Dragon Shop
Drop by and see us in our new location just past the bleachers! We have our Festival branded team shirts, some new water bottles, NEW ¾ sleeve baseball
shirts, NEW pullover hoodies and lots more for your shopping pleasure.

2018 Raffle
Don’t forget to bring cash for the 2018 Dragon Boat Festival Cash Raffle! Just
look for the Raffle Tent to get your tickets - $5.00 each or 3 for $10.00. Draw will take place at 4 pm. 1st prize = $1000, 2nd prize = $500, 3rd prize = $250.00 (Winner does not have to be present) All proceeds from the raffle support the 2018 Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival.

Water Bottles
Bring your own reusable water bottle (or buy one at the One-Stop-Dragon Shop) to refill at the mobile drinking water station! Just a reminder that disposable plastic water bottles will not be sold at the Festival.

New Food Vendors
No need to bring a lunch since we will have some fantastic food vendors on site including burgers and dogs, pizza, greek food, coffee, delicious pastries, homemade soda and much more!

Massage services will be available to Festival participants, courtesy of Fleming College.
New for 2018: the Family Fun Zone!
We're introducing a fantastic new feature where everyone in the family can get in on the fun! Tell your friends and family to bring the kids out to Del Crary Park starting at 10:00 a.m. Admission is FREE!

  • Dragon Boat crafts courtesy of the Art Gallery of Peterborough
  • GIANT games courtesy of Boardwalk Games
  • Photo Booth & Bubble station
  • Mini dragon boat race, canoe crafts and paddle carving station courtesy of the Canadian Canoe Museum
  • Face painting provided by Facesby2
  • Kids obstacle course courtesy of the Kawartha Gymnastics Club
  • Dress up station with early settler clothing and photo cut out frames courtesy of Peterborough Museum and Archives
  • Zumba & country heat courtesy of the Peterborough Sport & Wellness Centre
  • Axe throwing with the Peterborough Axe Club
  • Scavenger hunt and water safety with the Peterborough Paddle & Kayak Club
  • Bike checkups, info on local bike trails and activities, and secure bike rack parking courtesy of Shifting Gears and the City of Peterborough
  • Family circuit training with Your Body You
Team Snapshot: Paddling Arms of Savage
The brand-new Paddling Arms of Savage team from Savage Arms Canada is excited to be participating in the 2018 Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival and supporting the PRHC Foundation, as their employees rely on our hospital’s excellent services for themselves and their families.



Welcome to Dragon Boat! Tell us about your team.
The team from Savage Canada is composed of colleagues from all departments. We offered a signup sheet to staff to gauge interest and had a full team quickly! We’re passionate about the cause and have an excellent team of staff here that are always up for a challenge. Most rewarding is that this challenge benefits our community.

What motivated you to join the Peterborough Dragon Boat Festival?
Savage Arms Canada has been in Lakefield since 1969 and we enjoy giving back to our community that we live in and love. This is our first year participating in the Dragon Boat Festival. Each year we choose local charities to donate to and this year, our employees expressed interest in donating to the PRHC Foundation as so many live in Peterborough and access the excellent health care available. It’s important to us that this continues to be available in our community and flourish. 

Have any of you experienced cancer or had loved ones who went through it?
We all know someone who’s been impacted by cancer. We feel that it’s important to keep treatments as close to home as possible; it’s best if whenever possible, those already dealing with a difficult diagnosis don’t have the added stress of travel to an outside centre for testing and treatment.

What is your team most looking forward to from your first Festival?
Our employees thrive working together to accomplish production goals, and we’re looking forward to using the same approach in the boat!

Have you done any special challenges or activities to boost your fundraising?  
In addition to fundraising our team members are doing, we’re actually supporting PRHC Foundation through our charity tour of our facility on June 23, 2018 as well and we have set a goal of $5,000 between the two events! We are often asked for tours of the facility, but that can only happen in certain circumstances. We came up with the idea last year to put in the work required to do a tour to the general public on a designated day and donate the proceeds from ticket sales to a worthy cause. 
What's your story?
Are you a brand-new participant? Or have you been around since the dawn of Dragon Boat? Why do you paddle? What's your best Festival memory? If you or your team members have a fun, weird, or inspiring story, we want to hear from you. Please send us an email or a direct message on social media!
Connect with us on your favourite social media site!
Peterborough Dragon Boat Festival | 705.876.5000 | [email protected] |
www.ptbodragonboat.ca | #dragonbragging