Crowds of 50,000 and 60,000 people took advantage of a rare rain-free weekend and attended the 19th Annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival of New York (HKDBFNY) at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, celebrating the Chinese Year of the Ox.
“This year we had a record-breaking 154 teams,” said festival chair Henry Wan, who was delighted with the turnout for the event. “There was a great deal of support from the community.”
The event, which took place on Saturday and Sunday August 8-9, included Dragon Boat races, free entertainment, food and a festive atmosphere that everyone could enjoy.
“In the beginning we were in desperation because the economy was in free fall, but something interesting happened along the way – we got a lot of community support and a lot of sponsors decided to come back,” Wan said.
On Sunday, the colorful teakwood dragon boats glided along the lake as attendees and idle teams looked on.
Cindy Lee of the Azumi Dragons team, which won the second heat of the Women’s Invitational 250M on Sunday, is a newcomer to the team.
“We had a really good start, pace was good, we had a good finish, it was really steady,” Lee said. “We just worked hard and fought through the whole thing.
This was the first race for many, including Jessica Moser of the Empire Dragon Boat Team, the first all-women cancer survivor team in the city. They were endorsed by the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Though the team was disqualified from the Women’s Invitational 250-meter for drifting out of their lane, Moser remained steadfast.
“Not many of us knew each other, but we just came together and had surviving cancer in common,” Moser said. “Considering where we came from, I think we did fantastic. I’m so proud of the whole team.”
John Galjanich of the Bank of China Stars team emerged from a Corporate Invitational 250-meter heat with a rush of excitement and a narrow second place victory.
“We were waiting out there for a while, but once we got going it was an adrenaline rush,” said Galjanich. “Every Thursday, instead of taking lunch, we would line our chairs up, and actually get paddles and practice in the office.”
Also at the festival were martial arts demonstrations, traditional dragon dances, musical performances and exhibitions of folk arts and crafts.
Dragon boat racing is derived from the legend of an ancient poet, Qu Yuan, who lived in Chu from 340 to 278 B.C.E. He was a court minister who proposed reforms that the King of Chu disagreed with.
After the king expelled Qu Yuan from Chu, he wandered the country, writing political poetry detailing his concerns about China. In 278 B.C.E. when he heard that his home had been invaded, drowned himself in the Mi Lo River.
Local fisherman could not save him, so they threw rice dumplings into the water as an offering so fish would not consume his body.
Rice dumplings are eaten during the festival, which takes place on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.
On Saturday, August 8, DCH Racing EXP won the overall U.S. Dragon Boat Open Championship, while DCH won the Advance Division. The Puff Puff Dragons took home the gold in the New York Dragon Boat Championship.
While organizers will take a few days off after putting on another successful event, they already have their sights set on next year’s 20th anniversary celebration.
“We are happy with the situation and it gives us a solid footing for the 20th anniversary,” said Wan, who wants to make next year’s festival even more exciting and memorable.
