Barkers Island was full of boats this past weekend, but not just any boats; dragon boats.

The atmosphere at Barker’s Island was second to none, as Lake Superior Dragon Boat Festival celebrated it’s annual event.

“Dragon boats is such a fun time,” said Melissa Pratt, a member of the Blazing Paddles Dragon Boat team. “The atmosphere here in the island this time of year, everybody is so friendly and they’re all having so much fun. I can’t say enough about what an amazing event this is.”

While the sport may look like something that’s done professionally, it’s in fact the opposite, even to the degree that not all of the racers like being on the water.

“I guess I had been interested in it for a while and I was like, ‘I’m kind of like afraid of the water’. So I decided that maybe to help conquer my fear of boating and being in the water, I would try dragon boating and then a couple years ago, the county city team needed a captain. I decided to take on that role because I’m in the administrative department and because I had experience in the event before,” said Pratt.

Experience in these events can be intimidating for someone that’s never done anything like it before, but that can all be fixed just by picking up a paddle.

“If you’ve paddled a canoe, you can paddle a dragon boat,” said Mark Leutgeb, a volunteer of the event. “It’s super simple and it’s great fun. It’s such great fun. So, you know, if you want to have some fun, if you want to work together with some other people to make things happen, nothing better than the feeling of all 20 people all paddling together and just cruising, just absolutely cruising.”

“You feel alive,” shared Sylvie Mathers of the Chemo-Savy Dragon Boat team. “You feel good. It’s like you forget everything. Forget all your problems, all the hardship you went through and you’re just in there and paddled and enjoy every moment of life.”

It’s no wonder the Lake Superior Dragon Boat Festival has been around for decades, with many more to come on the horizon.