Lake Las Vegas Dragon Boat Festival: Your October 17 Guide
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
On Saturday, October 17, dragon boats will race across Lake Las Vegas from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. On the same day, Pinktober returns to the Village with dance fitness, raffles and family activities in support of the American Cancer Society. The two events have separate organizers and separate causes. Still, the lake has seen this pairing before. For about a decade, its dragon boat races were an October fundraiser for breast health. This Saturday the drums and the pink ribbons are back on the same shoreline in the same month.
The event listing reads "SOLD OUT," but that refers to team registration. Watching is free. The Las Vegas Review-Journal's preview says spectators are welcome to come and cheer from shore, with dining and entertainment at the Village all day.
Long before this festival had its current name, Lake Las Vegas hosted the Rose Regatta. St. Rose Dominican Hospitals ran it to raise money for breast-health services. The Las Vegas Sun called the October 16, 2010 race the second annual, so the first one was most likely held in 2009.
It became a regular part of fall. In 2017 the Review-Journal covered the ninth annual regatta. Dignity Health said proceeds went to St. Rose Dominican's R.E.D. Rose Program and its WomensCare Centers of Excellence breast-health services. The Review-Journal billed the 2019 race as the 11th annual, with the money again going to the R.E.D. Rose Program.
Then the pandemic stopped it. In October 2021, the Review-Journal reported that the Las Vegas Dragon Boat Club planned a full in-person return for October 8 and 9, 2022, after a year and a half in which the local paddling community had scattered. The public record after that is thin. The current festival has a different producer, and nothing published describes it as the same event continuing. The Rose Regatta is best understood as the predecessor that taught Lake Las Vegas what a race day on the water looks like.
The current festival started in spring. Vegas PBS listed it as the "First Annual Dragon Boat Festival" at The Village and advertised a traditional lion dance. The Las Vegas Dragon Boat Club's festival page gives the 2025 dates as May 17 and 18, with 200-meter races on Saturday and 500-meter races on Sunday. In the Review-Journal's April 2025 preview, Lake Las Vegas said the weekend would include a race for breast-cancer survivors and a rose ceremony honoring survivors and people who had died of the disease.
For 2026 the festival is a single Saturday in October. Here is how the three versions compare:
No published source says why the date moved. But it does put dragon boat racing back in October, the month the Rose Regatta held for more than a decade.
The 2026 festival is produced by the Mad Dragon Foundation in partnership with Lake Las Vegas, in association with Paddle Vegas Dragon Boat Club and Pan Am Dragon Boat. The City of Henderson is a sponsor. In the same Review-Journal preview, Cody Winterton, division president at Raintree Investment Corp., the developer of Lake Las Vegas, called the festival "an annual tradition for our community."
Each boat carries 11 or 21 people, with a drummer setting the pace. According to Pan Am Dragon Boat's event page, races run at three distances: 200 meters, 500 meters and 2,000 meters. The 200-meter heats are short sprints. The 2,000-meter race is long enough to watch the boats change position over the course.
Pan Am's listing includes these racing classes:
The list shows which classes are offered. It doesn't show which teams will actually race in each one, and no team roster or count has been published. The Review-Journal reports that crews are coming from across the country and from the Philippines.
The festival is also set up for first-timers. The minimum paddling age is 14, and every participant gets equipment, instruction and a practice session. Bobbie McCue, the event's organizer and executive director of the Mad Dragon Foundation, described the event to the Review-Journal this way:
"Whether you're a dedicated dragon boater or a first-time paddler, we want you on the water or cheering from shore."
Team registration is closed for this year. If your neighbors or coworkers are thinking about putting a boat together for a future festival, this is the format they'd be signing up for.
The BCS class on the water and Pinktober on land support different organizations. Even so, they tell a story the lake has been telling every fall for years.
Pinktober has been around for a while. In 2019, Lake Las Vegas Sports Club held a "Dance to be Fit" Pinktober fundraiser on October 26, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., on an outdoor lawn along Via Vin Santo. Proceeds went to Susan G. Komen Nevada. The 2026 version keeps the dance fitness and raffles, includes family activities, and now supports the American Cancer Society.
October at the lake has collected other cause events too. The second annual Dink 4 Pink, a pickleball fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, was held October 9 at the Lake Las Vegas Sports Club. Put the 2009 regatta, the 2019 Pinktober, this month's pickleball event and Saturday's survivor class side by side, and you have a fall calendar that keeps returning to breast cancer causes, with different organizers and different beneficiaries each time.
The official events page hasn't posted Pinktober's hours, exact location or organizer for 2026. Check lakelasvegas.com/events closer to Saturday rather than assuming it will be back on the 2019 lawn at the 2019 time.
Racing runs all day, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., so you don't have to show up at the start. Organizers haven't published a course map, viewing areas or parking plan for 2026, so the Village waterfront is the safest place to aim for. The Review-Journal says that's where the festival is based.
The Village's restaurant directory lists these places for a meal between heats. The directory isn't dated, so calling ahead before you plan around one is a good idea:
Lake Las Vegas's Village page, updated in March 2026, also lists One5 Lakeside. It doesn't appear in the directory, so check before you go.
The rest of October is busy too. According to the community events page, Village farmers markets with local vendors and live entertainment run throughout October, and Pilates on the Dock has a series of special sessions this fall. Neither listing gives dates. If a Saturday market lines up with the races, you could shop and watch in the same trip. That's worth checking on the events page this week.
Every fall, the Lake Las Vegas events calendar is a big part of what we tell people about this community, and this Saturday is a good example of why. If you want to know which streets have the shortest walk to the Village, or you're wondering what a home near the water is worth this season, Jenn Taylor and The Taylor Group would be happy to help. Request a Personalized Home Valuation and we'll go through it with you before the boats are back next year.
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