The 20th Annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival
The 20th Annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival In NY Took Place Over The Weekend At Meadows Lake, Flushing Meadows Corona Park In Queens, NY. With 173 Teams Competing In 79 Races With 60K+ In Attendance!
AUG 10th, 2010, NY, NY Good News speaks to Henry Wan, Chairman of the Festival, Anita Chan, Director Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office New York, Ashley M. Parker, Regional President HSBC, New York Region and June Jee, Director Government and External Affairs for VERIZON.
Under Sunny Skies, The Weather Cooperating, A Balmy 80+ Degrees. The Free, 2 Day Multicultural Sporting and Cultural Event Came To A Close With An Estimated 60,000 Plus In Attendance. At The Awards Ceremony Following The Close Of The Races The 30 Member Italian Contingent, First Time Participants Celebrated Their Winnings With Singing and Dancing On The Verizon Stage. With 173+ Teams From Around The Globe Competing For $25k in Cash & Prizes The Italian Teams Made A Real Splash At The Festival This Year, Inviting Festival Organizers To Experience Dragon Boat Racing In Italy and Promising To Come Back Next Year For The 21st Annual HKDBF in NY. As The International Contingent Continues To Grow With The New York Festival Becoming Larger and More Well Known Every Year The Awards Were Handed Out By HKDBF in NY Chairman Henry Wan and Representatives From Two Of The Festivals Major Sponsors, The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office NY and HSBC.
In Celebration of the “Year of the Tiger the organizing committee of the 20th Annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York (HKDBF-NY) went all out for this years competition, held this past weekend on Saturday, August 7th & Sunday, August 8th, 2010. With $25k in cash & prizes at stake, including Round Trip airline tickets to Hong Kong provided by Delta Airlines for competitors in this years US Dragon Boat Open Championship. The international teams, including for the first time teams from Italy, a 30 person contingent and several very competitive teams returning from Canada, did very well, with the festival hosting 173 teams consisting of 2,000 competitors from around the US, Canada and Italy.
On the water Festival events consisted of 79 races over the 2 days, including 2 special Cup races, The Hong Kong Cup with teams racing from the Hong Kong family and the Municipal Cup, featuring various teams from our elected officials, including NYC Comptroller John Liu’s team. New Invitational races included a Non Profit and Health Care race. The annual Charity Race with 3 Companies contributing $2,500 each, creating a $7,500 purse with the proceeds going to Charities picked by the entrants, the DCH team won this years race with teams from HSBC and Shanghai Commercial Bank coming in 2nd and 3rd . During the 20 year history of the festival almost $200,000 has been contributed to various charities thru this race.
This year’s Corporate Invitational, dominated by teams from HSBC was an excellent one with many Corporate Teams racing for their companies.
The Free 2 day Festival returned to Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, New York for the 18th straight year. Among many of the activities leading up to the festival’s 20th anniversary celebration were the Ceremonial ringing of the NYSE Closing Bell and the Empire State Building lighting up in the red and green colors of HKDBF NY on Saturday Evening Aug 7. The 20th Anniversary Festival Celebrations conclude on August 27th with an Anniversary Dinner, Awards Ceremony Celebration at the Boat House Restaurant in NYC’s Central Park for invited guests, co-hosted by the HKETO NY office.
The money races in the U.S. Dragon Boat Open Championships were held on Sunday at 250 and 500 meters with the DCH teams from NJ and the Mississauga Canoe Club from Canada dominating, along with placers the Metro Athletic Dragons and the Italian team La Darsena Bardolino with the teams vigorously competing for their share of the cash & prizes.
HKDBF-NY, a multicultural celebration and sporting event, is the largest multicultural Festival in New York and the largest festival of its kind in the U.S. HKDBF NY keeps up the age old tradition of Dragon Boat Racing in colorful, custom made teak boats, which are virtual works of art gliding on water. Custom made by a small coterie of craftsmen in Hong Kong, weighing one ton each, colorfully painted with a Dragon head at the front and Dragon tail at the rear, the boats are piloted by up to 20 crewmen, including 18 paddlers, a drummer and steersperson. For twenty successful years now HKDBF-NY has attracted a diverse, multi-cultural audience of more than 60,000 attendees throughout North America. This year with 173 well-trained teams, involving more than 2,000 participants competing from across the U.S. and Canada was the largest ever, notable in its scale and fierce competition.
With $25k in cash & prizes at stake for the US Dragon Boat Open Championships, the festival took place over two days on the site of the 1964 World’s Fair, featuring events for the entire family. The traditional opening day parade at noon on Saturday was a real hit, truly spectacular, headed by the colorful Dragon Dance team the parade was joined by many of the competing teams, as well as Mr. Met, the Mets mascot, Snoopy from MetLife and the costumed character Kai- Lan from Nickelodeon’s hot TV show.
Assembled on the Verizon stage were a number of elected officials and other VIP’s there to greet the teams and welcome the audience. The opening greetings and speeches were followed by the Official Opening Ceremony which included a ribbon cutting and the traditional eye dotting of the Dragon which was MC’d by DeMarco Morgan from WNBC TV 4. Honored guests included Borough President Helen Marshall, Irene Dorner CEO of HSBC, newly appointed HKETO head Anita Chan, and Ambassador Peng from China among many others. Estelle Cooper, Parks Director for Flushing Meadow Corona Park delivered a proclamation from Mayor Bloomberg to HKDBF NY Chairman Henry Wan declaring Aug 7 & 8th 2010 Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival Days in New York.
With renowned race announcer Ian Brooks returning to call the races and add his ever popular color commentary racing started at 9:00 a.m. with events lasting throughout the day until approximately 5:00 p.m. Other festival events on the water consisted of a Media invitational, the Corporate Youth race, the Women’s invitational, and the Sponsors challenge. On the land side the popular Sing Tao Photo Contest returned as well as multicultural presentations on the Verizon Main Stage of traditional Chinese arts, martial arts demonstrations, the traditional Dragon dance, musical and other diverse performances and in the crafts area there were very popular demonstrations of hands-on folk arts and crafts by over 20 traditional craftsmen. A highlight of the weekends performances on the Verizon stage was the return of the Shaolin Warrior Monks Kung Fu martial arts demonstration. An ethnic food court and booths staffed by sponsors of the event, many of whom were giving away promotional items, including first time Festival Sponsors Kikkoman and National Grid along with many community-based organizations participated helping to make a truly unique, action packed, multi-cultural, New York weekend.
The tradition of Dragon Boat Racing is an annual Chinese rite commemorating the idealistic poet and reformer Qu Yuan who drowned himself in the third century B.C. to protest against his emperor’s policies. The locals raced in their boats in an attempt to rescue the poet. To prevent fish and water dragons from eating his body, the locals beat their drums and splashed their paddles. This was the beginning of Dragon Boat Racing.
See www.hkdbf-ny.org for downloadable photos, directions and further information. (web designed and maintained by Fusia Communications)
This years Sponsors include; the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, NY; HSBC Bank USA, Verizon, Con Edison, J.P.Morgan Chase, New York Community Bank, Chef One/TMI Food Group, Bank of China, National Grid, AXA Equitable/Alliance Bernstein, Kikkoman, State Farm, Shanghai Commercial Bank, New York Hospital Queens, Delta Airlines, MetLife, Nickelodeon, Vallo Transportation, Ltd., Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens Chamber of Commerce, Office of the Queensborough President, Helen Marshall, NYC & Co, and Discover Queens.
Media &Creative Partners: WNBC TV 4, The New York Times, Sing Tao Daily News, The Queens Courier, GoodNews Broadcast.com, RNN, MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting, Inc.(AM1480, Sino Television, Sinocast, M-Weekly Magazine), Fusia Advertising, Inak Design, Time Warner Cable and RCN. Additional support provided by the Times Ledger Newspaper Group, the Empire State Building and the NY Daily News.
