 Drums and sharing can be heard all across Lake Bemidji as practices kicked off for the annual Dragon Boat Festival. Josh Peterson takes us into a practice as team prepare for the big event. For 13 years the phrase paddles up has become a signature term at the annual Lake Bemidji Dragon Boat Festival. Each evening this week teams will gather to get some much needed practice before the race day this coming Saturday. These practices are important in that the steers people are awesome in showing them the technique of how to paddle on a Dragon Boat. It's not necessarily like you would paddle in a canoe. Each Dragon Boat team is given two practice time slots. For many these practice sessions will be their only opportunity to find their teams rhythm. We have some drills that we take them through. We do one called a hesitation drill where at the end of a paddle when they bring their hands up it's a pause and then they paddle so that brings everybody in time together. For this practice session many of its participants haven't been in a Dragon Boat since last year's festival. For many groups it's a great team building experience. We've got lots of companies that use this as a great team building activity. How often do you get your CEO or your general manager out on a paddle or out on a boat with you. But when it all comes down to it the Dragon Boat Festival is all about having fun. For team captains only having two practices is no big deal. I really think so partially because everyone knows each other somehow either their co-workers or their family or some of us who get together through the Tuesday night practices. So everyone's kind of got some sort of chemistry. But you don't need a team to paddle. Anyone that wants to try it out is welcome to sign up. We still have teams looking for paddlers boats that aren't full. So if you're interested in getting on a boat and you might not know a team or you might not know a company that's short you can go to the Dragon Boat website and sign up as an individual paddler. With a week full of activities Dragon Boat organizers are looking forward to another year in the record books. In Bemidji, Josh Peterson, Lakeland News. If you'd like to paddle on a Dragon Boat team we've posted the link at our website lptv.org slash news or you can check in at the registration tent behind the Carnegie Library. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.