PERDIDO KEY, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--When it comes to unusual entertainment and great beaches, you can't beat this pristine island tucked between Pensacola, Fla. and Orange Beach, Ala. Case in point: Perdido Key will be the site of Dragon Boat races April 14, when 22-person crews will row the colorful boats as a drummer keeps the beat and a leader calls signals. The competition is relatively new in the South but it has 50 million participants in 63 countries, making it one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. The 2012 Dragon Boat Races will launch from the Oyster Bar, 13700 River Road in Perdido Key at 11 a.m. April 14. Arts, crafts, merchandise and children's activities also will be offered for the daylong celebration.
Before or after the race, you can sample the unusual restaurants, nightclubs and beaches on Perdido Key, a 16-mile long barrier island. More than 60 percent of it is set aside for the public, offering long, quiet expanses of sand and water for recreation and sun-bathing.
The dragon boats are just the latest unusual entertainment on Perdido Key, Fla. The calendar also features a mullet toss, the Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival and a Polar Bear plunge, when people greet the New Year on Jan. 1 by dashing into the Gulf of Mexico.
The dragon boat races are open to all ages and skill levels. Manitoba Paddling Association, a leader in the dragon boat racing world, provides training, equipment and boats.
Dragon boats date back more than 2,000 years to the death of a Chinese scholar statesman, Chu Yuan, who threw himself into the Mi Lo River as a political protest. When news of his death spread, local fishermen raced onto the water, banging pots and thrashing their paddles in the water to scare the fish away from his body. In China, the annual Dragon Boat Races are second in importance only to the Chinese New Year.
For more information, contact the Perdido Key Visitors Information Center at (850) 492-4460 or visit www.visitperdido.com/dragon-boat-race.
ABOUT PERDIDO KEY, FLA.
Located on a narrow strip of snow white beaches and crystal blue waters, Perdido Key is in the northwestern “panhandle” of Fla., between Pensacola, Fla. and Orange Beach, Ala. No more than a few hundred yards wide in most places, Perdido Key stretches some 16 miles, with almost 60 percent located in federal or state parks — making it one of the last remaining unblemished stretches of wilderness in the Florida Panhandle. For more information visit: www.visitperdido.com.
DRAGON BOAT RACING HISTORY
In China, the Dragon Boat Races are second in importance only to the Chinese New Year. The observance commemorates a Chinese scholar-statesman, Chu Yuan, who threw himself into the Mi Lo River as a political protest more than 2000 years ago. When news of his death spread, local fisherman raced out onto the water and splashed their banging on pots and thrashing their paddles in the water to scare the fish away.
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