A Colorful Hong Kong Tradition Returns To New York –

The 18th Annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York,
the oldest, largest, most traditional Dragon Boat Festival in the US, launches on Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows, Corona Park this Saturday, August 2nd & Sunday, August 3rd 2008.
…Largest Number Of Local Teams Ever Entered Among The 150+ Teams Competing
July 28th, .2008 NY, NY – In Celebration of the “Year of the RAT,” the organizing committee of the 18th Annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York (HKDBF-NY) announced that this years’ competition, to be held this Saturday, August 2nd & Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 will feature cash and prizes for competitors in the US Dragon Boat Open Championship. The Festival will be held at Meadow Lake, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, New York rain or shine. Admission is free.
HKDBF-NY, a multicultural celebration and sporting event, is the largest multi-cultural 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, virtual works of art gliding on the water. For seventeen successful years HKDBF-NY has attracted a diverse, multi-cultural audience of more than 50,000 attendees from throughout North America. With more than 150 well-trained teams, involving more than 1,500 participants competing from across the U.S. and Canada, this year’s festival is expected to be notable for both its scale and fierce competition.
The festival takes place over two days on the site of the 1964 World’s Fair, featuring events for the entire family. The Opening Day Ceremony/ Parade at noon on Saturday, August 2nd will be MC’d by WNBC TV 4’s Pei-Sze Cheng, followed by the New York City Championship Race. The finals in the U.S. Dragon Boat Open Championship will be held on Sunday, August 3rd with the competitors striving for their share of the cash and prizes.
Racing starts at 9:00 a.m. and events last throughout each day until 5:00 p.m. rain or shine. Renowned race announcer and color commentator Ian Brooks will return once again to serve as our race announcer. Other festival events consist of two new cup races “The Hong Kong Invitational and the Municipal Invitational, featuring members of the Hong Kong family and teams from various elected officials offices, the Media Invitational/Metro Asian Food Magazine Cup media challenge with teams racing for many of NY’s finest media outlets, the fierce Corporate Challenge, with many Fortune 500 companies fighting it out on the water, special youth, charity, women’s, and sponsor races, the Sing Tao photo contest, as well as presentation on the Verizon Stage of traditional Chinese arts, martial arts demonstrations, the traditional Dragon dance, musical and other diverse performances and demonstrations of folk arts and crafts. On Sunday from noon to one pm Chef One hosts their 5th annual “Dumpling Eating Contest,” with over $3,600 in cash & prizesand 2 overnight stays at Foxwoods at stake. HSBC provides family style entertainment at their booth and the HKETO celebrates the Olympics at theirs. An ethnic food court and booths staffed by sponsors of the event, many of whom will be giving away promotional items, and many community-based organizations help make for a 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.
Admission to the HKDBF-NY is Free, Events take place Rain or Shine. For information visit our website http://www.hkdbf-ny.org or call 718-746-5781 HKDBF NY-2008 is a non-profit, tax-exempt, cultural organization
Parking is very limited – Directions to the Festival by car – take the Long Island Expressway to Van Wyck Expressway to exit 11 south, then stay on service road to the Park. Directions to the Festival by subway -Again this year we’ve worked with the MTA to insure easy, safe transportation to the Festival site. Festival goers can use their MetroCard to-take the #7 Train to the Shea Stadium stop and transfer from there to special MTA shuttle buses “(Dragon Wagons,”) that will take them directly to the festival site, or they can walk from the Shea stop (about 15 minutes) or take the colorful park trolley to the festival site. Parking on-site is very limited. There is paid parking at Shea Stadium.
Downloadable photos are available at http://www.hkdbf-ny.org www.hkdbf-ny.org . (Website developed and maintained by Fusia Communications)
Special hotel rates are available at several local hotels to encourage out of town team participation.
This years Sponsors include; the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, NY; HSBC Bank USA, Verizon, Chef One, Toyota, Con Edison, Prudential Financial, J.P.Morgan Chase, New York Community Bank, Merrill Lynch, Western Union, Bank of East Asia Ltd., MetLife, State Farm Insurance, Shanghai Commercial Bank, New York Hospital Queens, Cathay Bank, Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel, Vallo Transportation, Ltd.,The Princeton Review, East Buffet, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens Chamber of Commerce, Office of the Queensborough President, Helen Marshall, NYC &Co Media & Creative Partners: WNBC TV 4, The New York Times, Sing Tao Daily News, GoodNews Broadcast.com, RNN, MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting, Inc.(AM1480, Sino Television, Sinocast, M-Weekly Magazine), Fusia Communications, Inak Design, Metro Asian Food Magazine, In Focus Magazine and the Times Ledger Newspaper. With support from the MTA, Foxwoods Resort * Casino and the NY Daily News. Sound and Stage provided by OUO Productions.