The Dragons in the Wallowas Paddling Club will be riding their own version of the legendary Lake Monster this spring and summer.

Earlier this week the club welcomed a Kaohsiung-style boat to Wallowa County.

The club normally races on Wallowa Lake in the smaller Hong-Kong style racing boats and can be seen practicing (with decorative head and tail removed) from May through mid-September. The Kaohsiung boat is much larger and the head and tail are not removed for practice.

The 20-person, dragon-headed, ceremonial dragon boat is the boat most associated with the Portland Rose Festival Dragon Boat Races, an annual cultural event hosted by the Portland-Kaohsiung Sister City Association. The Portland event — held in conjunction with the Rose Festival — features as many as 96 dragon boat teams from all over the world who race on the Willamette River at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland.

The Kaohsiung boats used in Portland are slightly smaller than those used in Taiwan so that they will fit in shipping containers. They are 40-feet 6-inches long and 5-feet 4-inches wide, and each weighs 1,760 lb. They hold 20 paddlers, a caller, a tiller and a flag catcher.

“I think the boat will be an icon on the lake,” said Mike Lockhart, organizer of the Wallowa Lake Dragon Boat race event.

Local Dragons were encouraged to participate in the Portland Race from the moment the Portland clubs heard of the Wallowa club. Wallowa’s first dragon boat race held last August featured the sleeker Hong Kong racing boats and will continue to do so. Portland and Vancouver teams came to race at Wallowa Lake both for the beautiful event and in support of the local team. By acquiring the very stable Kaohsiung boat local Dragons can also attend the Portland races and manage the rough waters of the Willamette River.

The Dragons in the Wallowas Paddling Club has named their Kaohsiung boat “Wally” after the fabled Wallowa Lake monster.

To keep up to date on the dragons visit their “Dragons in the Wallowas” Facebook page.