“It’s too rough, open and windy to be of any use whatsoever to canoers, rowers or paddlers,” he says,Īlthough the project went through an environmental assessment, David White of the Parkdale-High Park Residents Waterfront Group continues to have concerns about water circulation, the effects on aquatic habitat and on-again, off-again plans to re-naturalize the shoreline of Marilyn Bell Park.

Others, like local Argonaut Rowing Club member Robert Blunt, doubts the course can be used for anything but the once-a-year races. Devin Horne of the Parkdale Business Improvement Association says, “It would have been nice if local businesses had had the opportunity to get involved.” But it was corporate sponsors like Coca-Cola and Pizza Pizza that fed and watered the paddlers. So far, residents and local retailers have yet to see the benefits. He says the course would “remain a legacy to all water sports, be they canoers or rowers.” Kris Burley of the International Dragon Boat Federation media team assures me that the races are a great boon to the area, one that will “open up Toronto to sport tourism.” Kristin Jenkins, VP of communications for the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation, acknowledges that the watercourse is incomplete but stresses that “it can be extended as the financial resources become available.” “The races take place so far from the shore because the course is not deep enough at the shoreline.”

“ didn’t want to spend the extra money and commit to a full dredging of the shoreline,” says Kerkman. Mike Kerkman, VP of Great White North, the organization that helped bring the dragon boat races to T.O., says more money will have to be sunk into the project to make the facility usable for future races. Just another case of political interests overriding the wishes of the local waterfront community? It’s hard not to agree. Residents have begun referring to the breakwater that dominates the course as Parkdale’s Berlin Wall. What’s left for the community now that the race is over? And how did Parkdale get stuck with a watercourse that’s only half-finished? What remains is a glut of garbage, stretches of dead grass and a $23 million stone wall.

The 11-metre dragon boats are long gone, their drumbeats faded, and the predicted audience of 100,000 for the boat race at Marilyn Bell Park turned out to be a few thousand of the faithful.

Great white north dragon boat