Lakeside’s biggest annual event kicks off this weekend as nearly 1,000 competitive rowers descend on the resort town to compete in the Fifth Annual Montana Dragon Boat Festival on Flathead Lake.

Diane Medler, director of the Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau, said the free event includes 48 teams of 20 rowers this year.

She said the location proved popular with both contestants and spectators last year, its first in Lakeside’s Volunteer Park after starting out in Bigfork.

“The spectators and paddlers really enjoyed it because they could see the entire race course from the shore, could see the race start and were right there at the finish line,” she said. “You could hear the starter boat calling the start times for the racers and you felt a lot more involved in the races.”

Half the teams are from the Flathead Valley and the other two dozen hail from Washington state, Southern California, Alberta, British Columbia and locations throughout Montana.

The dragon-boat festival is a major revenue generator for local businesses. It produced a nearly $1 million economic impact in 2015, according to a report earlier this year by the University of Montana Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research.

Last year’s festival drew 1,220 paddlers and 1,500 spectators, according to the Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau.

Local business owners complained last year, however, when most of the added traffic from the event benefited vendors at the event rather than local businesses.

This year, Medler said the bureau worked more closely with local businesses to bring them into the vendor area while decreasing the total number of vendors.

She also said many of the paddlers unfamiliar with the area likely didn’t know how many Lakeside businesses were within walking distance of the race area.

“Last year they realized, ‘Oh, this really is a walkable community where we can plan when we’re done with our races for the evening, to walk over to Tamarack and have dinner or whatever the case may be,” she said.

Two free parking lots will be located on Bills Road and on Adams Road. Spectators heading to the event on Saturday and Sunday should watch for black-and-yellow flags and signs designating the public parking areas.

After a team check-in and welcome party tonight, the aquatic festivities kick off Saturday morning when the first heat of dragon boats takes to the lake. Racing continues through the afternoon.

This year’s festival will also include live music by the New Wave Time Trippers Friday evening, followed by Comatose Posse on Saturday and performances by Crown of the Continent Choir and Halau ka Waikahe Lani Malie on Sunday.

After a spate of cold, rainy days in the valley, better weather is ahead for the festival. The National Weather Service predicts partly sunny skies and a high temperature of 73 degrees in Lakeside for the first round of races on Saturday. On Sunday there is a 40 percent chance of showers with an expected high of 63 degrees.

For more information, visit bit.ly/2c9yX18.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.