2024 HONG KONG DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL IN NEW YORK FLUSHING MEADOWS PARK | FREE ADMISSION | RAIN OR SHINE FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS Welcome to our 2023 HKDBF NY featuring events for the entire family, an opening day parade at noon on Saturday lead by the Malaysian United Group Dragon Dance Team leading the racers to the main stage to officially kick-off the 2023 Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival with a dragon eye dotting ceremony sponsored by the Hong Kong Tourism Board. The challenging US Dragon Boat Open Championship Race is on Sunday. Racing is both days from 9am-5pm. Some of the attractions taking place during the festival include several special races. Including a new race the “Hello Hong Kong Invitational,” sponsored by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, along with the ever popular Sponsors Challenge for bragging rights, a Media Invitational, the Women’s Invitational, the Seniors Invitational. The Municipal Invitational this year is a good one with teams from City Hall, the Queens Borough Presidents Office, the Comptrollers Office and Public Advocate’s office competing against each other. We also have a new Chinese Cultural Invitational and the popular HK Family 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. There are also special Youth, 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 Legacy race is also on this year honoring the tradition of Dragon boat racing in our original teak boats. The program on the HSBC Main Stage showcases the best Regional multicultural artists and traditional music/dance from across the globe. The Chinese Music Ensemble of New York gets us started on Saturday morning, the ever popular Shaolin Martial Artists return for performances on both days. We have several other very Special Musical Guests this year, the amazing violinist Daisy Jopling returns, Afro Dominicano performs traditional folkloric roots music from the Dominican Republic with Afro-beats, reggae, calypso, samba, Funk, Punk rock, and other Caribbean rhythms. On Sunday we have a very special International Dance Hour featuring extraordinary performances from New York’s Chinese Cultural Center’s - Dance China NY, the resident touring dance company. Traditional Japanese Dancer Junko Fisher, Queens based Okinawan/Japanese traditional dancer and folk singer performs a brief traditional dance. The Latin Jazz Express featuring a 100th Anniversary Tribute to Tito Puente Sr. performs Sunday afternoon. Master Storyteller Jonathan Kruk returns again, spinning “Dragon Tales.” In addition, we have demonstrations of traditional Asian folk arts and crafts, booths staffed by sponsors and many community-based organizations. The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York is proud to continue to support the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York as the title sponsor. Visitors are encouraged to join in the games and festivities and win some prizes at our tent, located directly opposite the center stage. Souvenirs will be handed out to new followers of our Facebook and Instagram “Hong Kong Meets America”. HKETO NY DragonRiders, the official dragon boat teams of the office, will compete for championship in various races. We have a number of very special multicultural food vendors as well as several food trucks on site including Cousins Lobster Truck from Maine on Saturday. Multicultural Radio Broadcasting will be on hand offering a live radio broadcast both days along with reps from Sing Tao, the Queens Courier and Good News Broadcast. In the non-profit community tent representatives will be on hand from MOCA, the Hamilton Madison House, Girl Scouts of Greater NY, New York Hall of Science, NYC Mayor's Office of Community Mental Health, NYC Commission on Human Rights, Disability Rights New York, New York State of Health, Queens Borough Community College, Queens Botanical Garden and others to promote their various programs. The Hong Kong Tourism Board is partnering with Cathay Pacific Airways at their booth. Please stop by to enjoy their offerings, meet with the representatives and learn more about “Hello Hong Kong!”