Dragon boat race officially moving to Lakeside

The Montana Dragon Boat Festival has officially been approved to move to Lakeside this fall. 

During a meeting on Tuesday night, the Flathead County Board of Adjustment unanimously approved a conditional-use permit that will allow the move. 

The festival will be Sept. 12-13 at Volunteer Park in Lakeside. 

“I’m very impressed with the presentation and the support,” Board of Adjustment member Ole Netteberg said after approving the permit. “It makes me want to do it.”

Members of the Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau, which has put on the festival since its conception in 2012, presented a plan detailing parking, pedestrian flow, law enforcement and privacy for Lakeside residents during the meeting. 

“Lakeside is a natural location for the Montana Dragon Boat Festival to continue its remarkable growth as one of our state’s premier events,” Diane Medler, director of the Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau, said in a news release. “Visitors will be able to experience the whole festival — from parking to paddling to dining and watching the races — all within easy walking distance.”

The plan presented to the board addressed many of the concerns voiced by people over the past several months, which included the dangers of having pedestrians cross U.S. 93 and festival-goers trespassing on property around Volunteer Park. The race course on Flathead Lake is mapped to parallel Lakeside Boulevard, with spectator parking to the west of the Lakeside QRU building, at Lakeside School, and at a Montana Department of Transportation site on Soren Lane. 

The festival grounds will spread along Lakeside Boulevard, with places for vendors, teams, tents and additional activities. 

The three designated parking lots are mapped to hold around 2,000 parking spots and will be available free, according to Rob Brisendine, past vice president of the visitor bureau. In past years, the festival has not had more than 1,200 cars parked in designated parking areas at any one time. 

There also will be a designated handicap parking area for easy access. 

“We’re here to support the community, not work against it,” said Brisendine, who now works as an outside consultant for the bureau. 

The permit detailed the plan to rent more than 40 portable toilets for use in the festival area and parking lots. 

The visitor bureau said it plans to post signs starting in Polson that encourage through travelers to use Montana 35 to the east of Flathead Lake. The bureau also plans to have flaggers at specified pedestrians crossings and work with area law enforcement to keep the area safe and clean.

The 2014 Montana Dragon Boat Festival drew 1,825 paddlers and 3,500 spectators and generated an economic impact of $1.76 million in the Flathead Valley, according to a study by the Institute for Tourism & Recreation Research at the University of Montana.

This year, the bureau expects between 60 and 65 teams to participate. 

For the past three years, the Dragon Boat Festival has been staged at Flathead Lake Lodge in Bigfork. The visitor bureau in December announced a plan to move the festival to Lakeside. 

At the Bigfork venue, parking was limited around the lodge, so festival-goers had to be shuttled from a remote parking lot.

Lakeside also has generally calmer water than Bigfork, according to the University of Montana Biological Station.

Several Lakeside residents spoke during Tuesday’s meeting to support of the change of venue. No one spoke in opposition, although two of the 11 letters submitted to the board prior to the meeting were against the change. 

“I can attest to how well-organized these events are,” said Josh Townsley, owner of Tamarack Brewing in Lakeside. Tamarack Brewing sponsored the Pond Hockey Classic in February, another visitor bureau event. “They were able to keep 400 hockey players from drinking at this year’s pond hockey, to keep the bureau from losing their permit.”  

Jeremy and Deborah Newell, who own the Lakeside Mercantile on U.S. 93, offered their business as a headquarters for the event and also offered additional parking. “We’re excited for this, and we see it as a great thing for Lakeside,” Jeremy Newell said.  The next step for the bureau is to seek a permit to close part of Lakeside Boulevard during race days.