The Orion Art Center’s Dragon on the Lake festival wrapped up this weekend, with proceeds from DOTL benefitting the Orion Art Center’s youth art scholarship program, art camp and the art center’s annual operating costs.

The four day festival kicked off with a new event, a Foam Party,

held for all ages on Thursday night. Dance music played in the tent while attendees danced among the bubbles. Many “foam beards” were sported by children in attendance.
Friday night featured the Party on the Point and included a jet ski show and the lighted boat parade, featuring the infamous fire-breathing Dragon boat.
Downtown was jam-packed with a variety of entertainment, shopping, activities and food on both Saturday and Sunday, including the beer tent which featured live music.
Dragon boat race members had a chance to practice on Saturday at Green’s Park and also got to take part in the unveiling of Lake Orion’s own Dragon boat. The future plan is for that boat to be available for racers to practice throughout the year as the sport continues to grow in popularity.
This year’s seventh annual Dragon Boat Race featured 22 teams racing an approximately 900 feet long course, taking about a minute and half to two minutes from start to finish.
The final race insured that the Dragon Cup stayed in Orion, with the three finalists all local teams. Less than three seconds separated the top three teams in the final heat.
The Birney Directive, under team leader Brian Birney, won with a time of 1:29:79. Urassis Dragon fueled by Modernistic finished second with a time of 1:31:20. And Draggin’ Azz finished third with a time of 1:32:07.
For more photos  see the Aug. 31 issue of The Lake Orion Review