Dragon Boat Festival draws over 50,000

This weekend Li Lee beat a drum on a boat, which was slicing through the surface of Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Lee, 27, does not play in a band though.
She is the drummer of one of the teams that participated in The 18th Annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York on Saturday, August 2, and Sunday, August 3, an event which attracted over 50,000 spectators from well beyond the immediate neighborhood, said David Archer, marketing director of the festival in New York.
Lee’s team, New York State Chinese Auxiliary Police Association (NYSCAPA) Dragon Boat Team, participated in the race together with over 150 other teams, some of which had been practicing for the event for the past few weeks and some that prepare year-round.
Comprised of club members and employees sponsoring the festival, the teams came from all over the world and paddled in narrow dragon-shaped teak boats painted in different colors.
The event, which is the biggest multicultural festival in the city, featured a total of 68 250- and 500-meter races.
Lee’s team participated in five races and won one 500-meter race finishing at a little over three minutes and thus getting third place in the finals.
As a drummer, Lee’s job in the races is to beat her drum every time the pacer on the boat, who sets the paddling speed, dips his/her paddle in the water. Thanks to the drumming, the rest of the team members know if they are paddling to the right rhythm, Lee explained.
“It’s a lot of coordination,” Lee said. And a lot of stamina. The secret to having it is to anchor your legs onto the boat and rely on them for strength, rather than on your arms, which get tired easily while legs are naturally trained to sustain body weight, Lee explained.
It is also a little scary. “I’m sitting on a seat that’s higher than [the other seats], so if the boat capsizes, I’m the first one to go into the water,” Lee said. But despite that, she enjoyed the event.
So did Stephanie Woo, of Flushing, a spectator. “We come every year - my kids grew up around it,” Woo said, adding that her family also likes the festival booths featuring ethnic foods and handcraft as well as the multicultural dance and martial arts performances.
This year the festivities on land included Chinese music, Irish dance and a Chinese dumpling eating contest.
The dragon boat racing tradition dates back to the third century B.C. when Chinese poet and reformer Qu Yuan drowned himself to protest against the emperor’s policies. In an effort to rescue him, the locals went to the water, racing in boats. To prevent fish and water dragons from eating the poet’s body, the people beat drums and splashed paddles.
Ever since, dragon boat racing has been an annual rite in China commemorating this poet. Over the years, the dragon boat racing evolved into an international activity and has been gaining in popularity worldwide, said Archer.
New York’s festival is sponsored by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York, a permanent representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.
The overall winner of the U.S. Dragon Boat Open Championship race was the Montreal Mix, from Montreal, Canada, which won $1,500 and a trophy, said Archer.