Lake Victoria filled and ready for Dragon Boat festival – all due to Mother Nature

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In the Aug. 29 edition of the Times, the cover story said that organizers for the Stratford Rotary Dragon Boat Festival “could not rely on Mother Nature” to fill Lake Victoria for the Sept. 13 festival.

Evidently, that was not the case.

That same day, Robert Ritz, chair of the organizing committee, informed the Times that the lake filled naturally due to a higher-than-expected amount of precipitation in the area.

“Late this afternoon, we learned from Chris Tasker at the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) that Stratford received 23 millimetres of rain today – 400 per cent more than expected,” a subsequent media release reads. “The result? The Avon River is full and flowing over both dams.”

As Ritz had earlier explained, given the importance of the festival happening in the downtown core and the low water levels of the lake, he and the committee began working on filling the lake by pumping water from a nearby gravel pit. The organizing team submitted a Permit to Take Water (PTTW) to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks on Aug. 22, expecting to get approval to pump on Aug. 29.

That operation was expected to raise the lake by sixteen inches over eight days, pumping about 8,000 litres per minute into it.

“We are winding down the pumping operation, but we don’t see this as wasted effort,” the release said. “Preparing over the past month meant that if the rain hadn’t come, we were ready. Think of it as having a fire truck on standby – better to have it and not need it than the other way around.”

The committee thanks Waters Edge Environment, Core Fuels, United Rentals, Lynn River Farms, Denham Construction, Wilhelm Excavations, Ritz Architect, Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Ministry of Natural Resources, Wildwood Conservation Authority and the Rotary Club of Stratford for their work in the pumping operation.

They noted that the team has still incurred costs that could be offset by donating at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/rotary-club-of-stratford-charitable-foundation/p2p/Fill_The_River_Challenge.

Thanks to decades of community support from sponsors, volunteers, dragon boat teams and spectators, the festival recently surpassed an impressive milestone of $1 million raised. These funds have supported a wide range of initiatives including the Stratford Rotary Complex, Rotary Hospice Stratford Perth, Rotary Respite House and other global initiatives.

“This festival is about much more than racing,” said Gary Wreford, chair of sponsorship and publicity. “It’s a celebration of resilience, hope and the strength of our community – especially visible in the return of our breast cancer survivor teams, who inspire us year after year.”

The festival takes over Lake Victoria on Sept. 13, with the first race set to begin at 8 a.m. after the ceremonial dragon eye dotting. Food trucks, a beer tent and a kids’ tent open at 11 a.m. for spectators, and live music takes the stage at 1 p.m.