The 22st Annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York will be held this weekend in Meadow Lake at Flushing Meadows, Corona Park.  Fielding 170 dragon boat teams and over 2,000 participants, it is one of the largest boating festivals in New York City.   In addition to two days of dragon boat racing, there will be also be  traditional Chinese foods and performances including the Shaolin Temple Warrior Monks demonstrating Kung Fu, the Drum Spirit of China, as well as other performers who will perform traditional music and dance from China, Mexico and Peru.

What is dragon boat racing?  Dragon boat races were traditionally held as part of the annual Duanwu Festival, which is held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. While the dates vary on Western calendars, the festival typically falls near the Summer solstice.  Dragon boat racing came to the United States in 1986 when the Hong Kong Tourism Bureau donated traditional teak wood dragon boats to several cities including New York. In 1990, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York City promoted and organized the inaugural Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York, which was held on the Hudson River in Battery Park City.

And my how the sport has grown.  I thought that I had a reasonably good idea about dragon boating, having an acquaintance who paddles in a dragon boat team.  What I hadn’t realized was that dragon boat racing has spread across the United States, Canada and Europe.  There are now dozens of dragon boat clubs racing on the East Coast, the Gulf, the Midwest,  the Pacific Coast,  Canada and Europe.  Last year National Geographic publsihed an article identifying the “Top 8 Dragon Boat Festivals in North America.”

A video from last year’s festival:

HONG KONG DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL IN NEW YORK 2011