On a sunny afternoon in late May, a few Portland City Councilors and their staff navigated the Willamette River in a long yellow and purple boat painted to resemble a dragon.

“This is fun!” yelled Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane, as the team dug their oars into the water. “You’re all doing so great!”

The group was practicing for the city’s annual dragon boat race, which takes place this weekend. It’s a competition, based on a historic Chinese tradition, where more than 80 teams compete to see who can paddle 500 meters across the river the fastest.

Councilors Eric Zimmerman and Sameer Kanal shared a bench at the back of the boat, laughing as they tried to paddle in unison.

Less than 24 hours earlier, some of the same councilors battled during a council meeting on the city budget, shooting icy looks at each other across the dais.

With just six months on the job, Portland’s 12 new city councilors are still learning how to work together to pass major policies. That challenge has been on full display this past month, as councilors work through last-minute and divisive tweaks to the city’s annual budget.

But on the water, wearing board shorts instead of blazers, councilors had no choice. They were forced to learn how to paddle in the same direction.

“We needed to get out of City Hall and into the fresh air and figure out how to connect with each other in a different way,” said Councilor Dan Ryan, who organized the team. “We have to learn how to disagree and still do hard things together.”

Ryan was inspired to form a council dragon boat team after a visit to Portland’s sister city, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. There, he saw the mayor’s office compete against city councilors in a dragon boat race.

“I was so taken with the joy and the competitive spirit of that,” he said. “I hope that we can somehow replicate some sort of that history here.”

Ryan spent around $2,000 of his office’s budget to cover the race registration fee. Portlander Erica Gibson, who has raced dragon boats for over a decade, volunteered to coach them.

“I guess you could call me a glutton for punishment,” Gibson said. On the water, Gibson stood at the head of the boat, shouting orders and pointing out mistakes. She called the politicians by their first names, something rarely heard in City Hall. Gibson said she could tell many of them weren’t used to being told what to do.

“And on the boat, I’m in charge,” she said. “Having someone yell at them and tell them what to do is not their norm. I think for them it’s a bit of a humbling experience.”

In all, seven councilors signed up to participate. But at their May practice, only four attended: Ryan, Koyama Lane, Kanal and Zimmerman. They represent a spectrum of the city council’s political views and have regularly been on opposing sides of policy debates. But at practice, they joked about making up a team song and shared water bottles.

There are some unexpected similarities between the work on the boat and in City Hall.

Jacq Tjaden, an advisor for Councilor Kanal, was one of six council staffers paddling with the team. She put a three-minute stretch of strenuous paddling in context for her colleagues.

“It’s the length of one public testimony,” Tjaden said.

On the water, the group is expected to keep an eye on each other to paddle at the same time, working toward a collective goal. It’s an easy metaphor for how this new council can work through a high-stress budget season — and keep the city financially above water another year.

”I think it’s really important for us to have some fun together and work together, practice being a cohesive team, encourage each other,” said Koyama Lane, as she stood on the dock after practice.

“And a little light splashing,” Kanal added.

Kanal rolled his eyes when he mentioned the team’s name, Paddling Portland Forward.

“It’s corny, but it’s factual,” he said, and pointed to another dragon boat team speeding across the Willamette.

“I see how in unison they are, and that’s what we want to do, too,” Kanal said. “We have all different roles, of course, but all for the same direction.”

The metaphor wasn’t lost on Gibson either.

“It’s like the boat is kind of like a representation of Portland, right?” she said. “If you’re not all paddling in time and working together to succeed. It’s gonna flounder.”

The group only practiced four times together before the first race on Saturday. But Gibson said she’s impressed with how much they improved in that time. Like any big day in City Hall, councilors aren’t expecting the race to be easy.

“This is about having fun, right?” Zimmerman said as he dropped his life preserver in a storage box.

The real test will be back on land, where councilors will see if this experience can help them keep the city afloat as they navigate the choppy waters of local politics.

As the group dispersed after practice, they gave each other high fives and hugs.

“See you at work!” they shouted.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/06/06/portland-city-council-dragon-boat-race-oregon/