Dragons Roar At 20th Celebration

The Cooloola Dragon Boat Club held their 20th Anniversary celebrations on Saturday 1 July at the Tin Can Bay Yacht Club. The event was very well attended by past and present members.

Councillor Jess Milne, a long-time and enthusiastic supporter of Cooloola Dragons, was in attendance as were several members of the Tin Can Bay Yacht Club. The support of Jess and the Yacht Club members is a very welcome and important aspect of CDBC activities.

Also, some members of the Hervey Bay Dragon Boat club braved the highway and travelled to take part in the celebrations; their attendance was very much appreciated by Cooloola club members! One of the great indicators of the friendships that develop in the sport.

Being the 20th anniversary, the theme was the Roaring ‘20s. All-in-all, about 60 people donned spectacular 20s-era costumes and their aim was to party, party, party.

Most of the ladies were wearing 20s flapper dresses, high heels, and lots of ‘bling’. It was certainly a glimpse of what life might have looked like in the 1920s. Most of the men also got into the spirit and donned clothing of the same era.

I don’t suppose they would mind it being said that some of them could have passed for members of a Peaky Blinders gang or for being one of Al Capone’s henchmen. We even had a couple of men who looked suspiciously like the Blues Brothers.

Live music was provided by guitarist Ronnie J who put on a fabulous display as he worked through a huge repertoire of songs guaranteed to get the party-goers on their feet. He had barely started playing his first set when a number of couples got onto the dance floor and displayed their skills at a number of dance steps – including the famous Charleston.

Early in the evening, the catering staff began serving scrumptious finger-food, including the well-known prawn straws as the entrée to the main meal. The main meal came and went and there were not many plates that had any leftovers.

Following the main meal, there were some short speeches (complete with amusing anecdotes about days gone by) given by club President Robyn and Head Coach Sandra. After the speeches, there was more dancing and socialising to be done and Ronnie J continued to provide fabulous music.

At the appropriate juncture, the celebratory cake was cut by past members Norma and Andrea assisted by Jan Low (aka, J-Low) who is now our longest-serving member. A great night was had by all and we proved that Tin Can Bay can put on a fantastic event.

CDBC would like to thank all the staff at the Yacht Club who worked in the kitchen, carried out waiting duties, and served in the bar — especially Tash and Taneal who put in a lot of work to get the job done. The entire team was super-enthusiastic and did a wonderful job all evening.

The next big event for the Cooloola Club is when they venture north again to compete at the Hervey Bay Dragon Boat Regatta at the end of July – details next month.
Please also bear in mind that the Cooloola Club’s regatta is scheduled for the weekend of 2 and 3 September.

Owing to the large number of competitors that will be attending the Cooloola Regatta, we have reliable information that accommodation in Tin Can Bay has become very difficult to obtain for that weekend. This must be a nice little boost for local business!

We hope that a large number of our local community come down to Snapper Creek to watch and support the many teams who will be competing.

Toni Archer