Hundreds of Birmingham residents will hit the water this weekend to participate in one of the world’s fastest growing sports. Mitchell’s Place is hosting its third annual Dragon Boat Race and Festival on Saturday (August 19) at East Lake Park. Festivities begin at 8 a.m.
Dragon boat racing is a competitive watersport and ancient Chinese tradition that began more than 2,300 years ago. The sport celebrates former statesman and poet Qu Yuan, who lived during China’s Warring States Period in fourth century B.C.E. Mitchell’s Place reports that after Yuan threw himself in the Miluo River as a sign of protest, the people raced after him in their fishing boats in a failed attempt to save Yuan’s life.
This incident supposedly spawned the Dragon Boat Festival, a traditional Chinese holiday. Modern dragon boat racing began in 1976 before coming to the U.S. in the early 1980s.
At the Mitchell’s Place Dragon Boat Race and Festival, teams will compete in heat races starting at 8:30 a.m. Each team will get two race times, with the top teams facing off in a final round that starts after noon.
“It’s a very athletic endeavor, when you’re in the boat rowing,” said Sara Nall, executive director of Mitchell’s Place. “It’s not as easy as you think because you are having to row in rhythm with 20 other people, hence the practicing that will go on this week prior to racing day. We have it announced all over East Lake Park. Everybody watches them and cheers their favorite team on.”
Dynamic Dragon Boat Racing will provide the 46-foot-long ornamental boats, which sport the head of the mythical creature found in folklore around the world. Twenty-two people are assigned to a team, including 20 rowers, one steerer and one drummer. Teams are tasked with beating their opponents all while rowing to the rhythm of a drum. Teams will be awarded gold, silver and bronze medals. Non-racing awards include top fundraising team, best team spirit, best dressed team and best team name.
However, this is not the only competition to be found at East Lake Park. The festival will also host a Bloody Mary Contest, sponsored by vodka brand Tito’s. Visitors can show off their mixology skills as judges decide which tomato-based cocktail tastes best. Judges include Dru Cunningham of Birmingham Mountain Radio; Clete Walker of La Paz Vinings; and Lindsey Noto King, corporate chef and Sysco food consultant. Soloists or duos will win prizes for the judges’ favorite drink as well as People’s Choice Award.
Other than competitions, the festival will also feature a kids zone, Drummer’s Parade, Steerer’s Auction, live entertainment, food trucks and local merchandisers selling everything from bracelets, necklaces and other wares. To beat the heat, event organizers will offer ice cream and a misting tent for visitors who might need a cool down.
Proceeds from this event will benefit Mitchell’s Place, a local comprehensive clinic and preschool center for children with autism operating in Irondale and Birmingham’s Southside community. The center offers several forms of therapy such as occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), which Nall said is the best, evidence-based therapy for autism spectrum disorder. In addition to treatment for children, Mitchell’s Place offers psychological evaluations at both locations. The Irondale location offers an early learning preschool, where children with autism aged 2 to 5 years old can interact with neurotypical children at a young age. The Birmingham location also offers a marriage and family therapist.
“We’ve been around for 18 years. It was really revolutionary when we started because with autism, so much has come out about it and how to work with it and the therapies involved in it,” Nall said. “We have evolved over the years, but our mission is still to help and give families access to care for autism.”
Mitchell’s Place defines autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as a neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts social interactions, speech and nonverbal communication, sensory sensitivity and behaviors. ASD occurs among all racial, ethnic, gender and socioeconomic groups. Symptoms of ASD among children include:
- Minimal eye contact or showing to parents
- Preferring to play alone or becoming distressed when others try and join in their play
- Trouble understanding others’ emotions
- Not responding to their name but responding to other sounds around them
- Difficulty understanding how to interact with peers
- Trouble expressing their needs using common words or motions
- Restricted or repetitive behaviors, including language, eating habits and play routines
Nall said this festival helps educate the public on the increasingly common and often invisible disorder.
“We were in search of something that could help promote and educate folks in underserved areas who don’t have access to quality or consistent care because the rate of diagnosis of autism is increasing,” she said. “Especially over the last six years, [diagnosis] has gone from one in 54 [children] to one in 36. We really love having it in East Lake. It’s just the perfect size, and it’s such a beautiful lake and park. The community comes out, rallies [and] cheers our teams on. It’s really a fun, family event.”
Along with food and merchandise vendors, Mitchell’s Place will also have a tent set up offering more information on its services as well as a list of milestones for parents to watch for as their children grow up.
“This is an educational festival to gain more knowledge. Even if people don’t realize what we do or who we are, a year down the road, they might have a grandchild, a child, a nephew [or] a niece who is on the autism spectrum. They can think back and say, ‘Oh, that Mitchell’s Place, maybe we should go there.’ It’s just that awareness,” she said. “We have lots of lists of milestones [because], especially with your first child, you don’t often know what those milestones are.”
Nall said it is important for families to know when to get their child into treatment, and she said the sooner, the better.
“The main thing is for parents to become empowered about autism because pediatricians don’t often have the knowledge they need and are hesitant sometimes to be proactive with autism. They just [think], ‘We can wait a little while,’ but they don’t realize our waitlists are so long and the waitlists across the city are so long,” she said. “Just to get an evaluation can be anywhere from a year to two years. If you wait too long, like say you have an inkling at two [years old] but you don’t seek [an evaluation] until three, then it’s four [years old] before they get an evaluation. Then, it’s another year until they can get therapy because the waitlists are so long.”
Ultimately, Nall said this event is an opportunity for residents to receive the mental health services they deserve.
“Education is our main reason for having it,” she said. “If we can’t serve them, we might know somewhere else that may be able to serve them better and or faster. Our main goal is to get these families served as quickly as possible because early intervention is so important.”
Local sponsors have helped raise more than $68,000 for Mitchell’s Place ahead of the race and festival on Saturday. Nall said though this is a fundraiser for the organization, her favorite part of this event is seeing the community come together.
“My favorite part of the festival is seeing so many people, young [and] old, rowing together and working together as a team,” she said. “We have a Mitchell’s Place team cheering them along and just chatting with people in the community. The Friends of East Lake [Park] community have this wonderful group that comes out and helps us. Just being out there, being social, learning, meeting new people [and] helping people learn about autism, that’s what my favorite part is. [Also,] just seeing the kindness of our our sponsors, Medical Properties Trust, Chuy’s and Taziki’s. Every year, they pour into us so that we can pour into others.”
Visitors can drop by East Lake Park and attend the festival free of charge. Readers can visit website for more information about the organization and the dragon boat race and festival.
