For the first time in its 20-year history, Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival has been cancelled — the latest high-profile local event to fall victim to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 20th annual event had been scheduled for Saturday, June 13th, with paddler registration having just opened on Tuesday, March 3th.
The festival is a major fundraiser for breast cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC), having raised more than $3.6 million over the past 19 years, including $241,738.54 at last year’s festival. This year’s fundraising goal was $202,020.20, an amount that recognized the festival’s 20th anniversary event in 2020.
“After discussions with the PRHC Foundation, and giving the situation serious consideration, it is with a very heavy heart that we have decided to cancel our 2020 event,” festival chair Gina Lee said in a statement.
“As you can well imagine, it takes months and a substantial financial commitment to plan an event of our size. The uncertainty of the situation makes it very difficult for us to continue with our preparations. More importantly, the health and safety of our community is of paramount importance and for all of these reasons, we feel this is the best and most responsible course of action.”
“Our festival is a vital fundraiser for the PRHC Foundation, supporting world-class breast cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment at PRHC. We remain passionate and committed to raising funds and supporting this year’s important fundraising priority: RIVA (Robotic IV Automation) technology. The website will remain open to accept donations and we hope that you will join us in our efforts.”
Organizers cancelled the festival based on the advice of public health authorities. The festival involves a significant investment of people and resources, and requirements for social distancing and uncertainly about how long the COVID-19 pandemic will last contributed to the decision to cancel.
Because of that uncertainty and the logistics of planning an event of this size, the festival cannot be rescheduled to a later date in the summer. Instead, the 2020 event is cancelled and scheduled to return on June 12, 2021.
For paddlers and teams who have already registered, all registration fees will be automatically refunded to the credit card that was used to complete the transaction. Refunds will be completed by Tuesday, March 31st.
In lieu of this year’s festival, paddlers and teams who would like to make a donation to the PRHC Foundation in the amount of the registration fee are asked contact Jane Lovett from the PRHC Foundation by email at jlovett@prhc.on.ca by Tuesday, March 24th.
Any donations already made to the 2020 festival will go directly to the PRHC Foundation. As noted in Lee’s statement, the festival’s website at ptbodragonboat.ca will be available to receive online donations, and offline donations can still be taken to any Kawartha Credit Union branch along with the completed offline pledge form.
If they wish, paddlers and teams are welcome to continue their individual or team fundraising with support from festival organizers. All donations will continue to go directly to the PRHC Foundation and support this year’s fundraising priority: the Robotic Intravenous Automation System (RIVA).
The next step in PRHC’s chemotherapy program, RIVA is a state-of-the-art system designed to reliably and accurately prepare IV syringes and bags in hospital pharmacies. By automating the preparation process, RIVA addresses issues of safety for both patients and staff as well as improved efficiency and precision.
