A Colorful Hong Kong Tradition Returns To New York :: The 2023 Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival In New York (HKDBF NY)-Celebrating The Year Of The Rabbit!

2023 Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival :: The Oldest, Largest, Most Traditional Dragon Boat Festival In The US!

August 12 – 13, 2023
9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Flushing Meadows Park

Free to All – Taking Place Rain or Shine

Dragons, Multi-Cultural Performers, Traditional Arts & Crafts, International Foods – Invade Meadow Lake, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NYC – Free & Fun For The Entire Family

Visit the official site to learn more…

July 17th, 2023- NY, NY – In Celebration of the “Year of the Rabbit,” the Board of Directors of the 31st Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York (HKDBF-NY) announce that this Free Multicultural Festival and Sporting Event will be held Saturday, Aug. 12 & Sunday, Aug 13, 2023.

HKDBF NY 2023 features events for the entire family, the Opening Ceremony takes place at noon on Saturday with the traditional Dragon Dance and Team Parade. Racing both days from 9am-5pm. Some of the attractions taking place during the festival include several special races, including the new “Hello Hong Kong Invitational” Sponsored by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the Municipal Challenge with teams competing from City Hall, the Comptrollers Office, the Public Advocates Office and the Queens Borough Presidents Office along the Sponsors Challenge for bragging rights, a Media Invitational, the Women’s Invitational, and the Seniors Invitational. This year’s Corporate Invitational looks to be a good one, with a number of Corporate Teams joining us to race for their companies. The US Dragon Boat Open Championship Race is on Sunday. There are also special Educational and Health Care Invitationals and the always exciting and rewarding Charity race, featuring funds raised by the participating teams to be donated to the charities designated by the winning teams. Over the years the Charity Race has contributed in excess of $300,000 to various NYC charities.

The program on the HSBC Main Stage showcases the best Regional multicultural artists and traditional music/dance from across the globe. The ever popular Shaolin Martial Artists return for performances on both days. The New York Chinese Cultural Center, Dance China returns, as does traditional Japanese Dancer Junko Fisher and Manhattan Taiko. We have several other very Special Musical Guests this year, The Chinese Musical Ensemble of New York, the amazing violinist Daisy Jopling, the Latin Jazz Express performing a 100th anniversary tribute to Tito Puente Sr. and Master Storyteller Jonathan Kruk returns spinning �Dragon Tales.� In addition, we have demonstrations of traditional Asian folk arts and crafts, booths staffed by sponsors and many community-based organizations. A multicultural food court and a number of food trucks including Cousins Lobster Truck from Maine on Saturday will be on hand to keep us hydrated and feed.

HKDBF-NY, an international, multi-cultural celebration and sporting event, the largest multicultural Festival in New York and the largest festival of its kind in the U.S. With this year’s Legacy race 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 steers person.

For thirty successful years HKDBF-NY has attracted a diverse, multi-cultural audience of more than 20,000 attendees throughout North America. This year with 100+ teams participating involving more than 1,000 competitors from across the U.S. and Canada, this year’s festival is expected to be notable for it’s 2 day return, scale and fierce competition.

The tradition of Dragon Boat Racing is an annual Chinese rite commemorating the idealistic poet and performer 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. The Hong Kong Tourism Board is the official sponsor of the Awakening Eye Dotting Ceremony at Central Park on July 20th and for the Opening Ceremony of the Festival on Aug. 12th.

Admission to the HKDBF-NY is Free, Events take place Rain or Shine – Festival attendees Please take the MTA or shuttle bus with your MetroCard or use correct change. Again this year we’ve worked with the MTA to insure easy and safe transportation to the Festival site. Festival attendees take the #7 Train to the CitiField stop and transfer from there to special MTA shuttle buses that will take them directly to the Festival site.

This year’s Sponsors include: Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, New York, HSBC, Shanghai Commercial Bank, BOC, Flushing Bank, New York Community Bank, Resorts World, Con Edison, Cathay Pacific, JP Morgan Chase Co, Maspeth Federal Savings, National Grid, Long Island Jewish Forest Hills -Northwell Health, AARP, Fios, New York Presbyterian Queens, VitaCoco, Forbes, Tinnie Advertising, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens Chamber of Commerce, Office of the Queensborough President, Donovan Richards, Jr., NYC &Co, Discover Queens. A very special thanks to the Hong Kong Tourism Board for their support of the Awakening Ceremony.

Media &Creative Partners: PIX 11 Sing Tao Daily News, The Queens Courier, MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting, Inc.(AM1480, AM1380,Sino Television, Niu TV) GoodNews Broadcast.com, Fusia Communications, Inc., Inak Design, Additional support provided by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, AARP, Attending Home Care, the Queens Chronicle, The Island, YELP and ChinaAmerica Radio.