Twenty-second annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival takes place this weekend in Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Saturday, August 3, and Sunday, August 4, free, 8:30 am – 6:00 pm
718-767-1776
www.hkdbf-ny.org
More than twenty-three hundred years ago, ailing and exiled Chinese minister and master poet Qu Yuan walked into the Miluo River, intent on ending his life via ritual suicide. His followers’ race to save him, and to honor his spirit by throwing dumplings into the water, is the folklore behind the annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, taking place this weekend in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. More than 170 teams will be participating in seventy-five races over the two days, in special dragon boats that can hold as many as twenty crewmembers. The festivities also include live music and dance, martial arts demonstrations, food booths, and a family-friendly arts and crafts tent featuring calligraphy, rice doll making, kite making, origami, bead stringing, and more. The performances begin on Saturday morning at 10:30 with the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York and continue with Lion Dancers from Zhanjian at 12:45, the Bailen Brothers at 1:30, Shaolin Masters at 2:30, and Dana Leong and His Music, with MC iLLspokiNN, at 3:30. Sunday’s lineup gets under way at 10:00 with Mariachi Aguila y Plata, followed by Dance China NY at 10:30, the Lion Dancers at 11:00, Napua Davoy’s Brave New World at 12 noon, Shaolin Masters at 1:00, and Ballet Folklórico Nuevo Amanecer de Jesus Cortez at 2:00.