The Survivors Abreast dragon boat team kicked off registration for the 2011 Peterborough Dragon Boat Festival at the Lansdowne Place shopping mall, February 15 -- and PNHB's Sax Appeal ensemble was there to provide the music. Team members in their black and pink uniforms announced that this year's fundraising goal is more than $270,000.

The money, raised by more than 2,000 paddlers, pledges from the public and donations, will go to the city's Closer To Care campaign. The campaign is raising money to provide a radiation unit at the regional hospital for local cancer patients who now have to drive to Kingston, Toronto or Oshawa for radiation treatment. Sax Appeal played When You and I Were Young, Maggie; Ghost Riders in the Sky and the Beach Boys' Fun, Fun, Fun. Among the guests were Peterborough's mayor Darryl Bennett and local MPP Jeff Leal, and staff from Kawartha Credit Union, the festival's major sponsor. The one-day dragon boat festival will be held June 11.