20 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 16, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
dragon boat
Storms couldn’t stop the 28th annual
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/ @jenna_bagcal
Th e rain, thunder and lightning couldn’t
stop the annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat
Festival, which celebrated its 28th year in
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park this past
weekend.
On Aug. 11 and 12 from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m., more than 200 teams gathered in
the park to compete in the races, some
of which traveled from places like New
Jersey, Boston and Arizona according
to festival chairman Henry Wan. Wan
and his team have been putting the free
sporting and multicultural event together
for the past 28 years in partnership
with HSBC.
According to legend, dragon boat racing
started when local fi shermen raced
out to the Ni Lo River to save the ancient
patriot-poet Qu Yuan from drowning.
Th ough they could not save him, the fi shermen
threw rice dumplings into the
water to prevent fi sh from eating him and
as an “off ering to his heroic spirit.”
Th ere were a total of 27 races on
Meadow Lake, though some of the 500-
meter races were canceled due to inclement
weather. A full list of race winners
can be viewed on the Hong Kong Dragon
Boat Festival website.
Th is year, Queens civic leaders, including
Borough President Melinda Katz,
Congresswoman Grace Meng and
Councilman Peter Koo, community
members and event sponsors braved the
storms to celebrate the popular tradition.
In addition to races, attendees clad in
rain boots or plastic bags tied to their
shoes enjoyed performances by several
groups including the Chinese Music
Ensemble of New York, the Echo Jam
Music Band, the Marine Judo Team of the
Marine Corps Martial Arts Program and
NY Shaolin Temple Kung Fu Association.
Guests were also treated to a plethora
of free giveaways from sponsor booths
like Flushing Bank, Macy’s, Cathay Bank,
Spectrum, Toyota and UPS.
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