Dragon Boats, Food Trucks, and Fun

Dragon Boat races at Ping Tom Park on Sat.

We’ve just concluded celebrating the Fourth of July, so, no holidays now until Labor Day. But for many Asian people, an important traditional festival is the Dragon Boat Festival. It falls on the 5th day of 5th lunar month in the Chinese calendar. Chicagotalks doesn’t consult that calendar, but we do know that July 13th is the date for the Dragon Boat Race for Literacy, at Ping Tom Park on 19th St. in Chinatown.

The local Dragon Boat Race features food trucks and games and other activities. The proceeds go to local literacy projects.

Globally, this holiday been celebrated for more than 2,000 years. The annual holiday memorializes a Chinese patriotic poet named Quyuan who loved his country but was drown on the 5th day of the 5th Lunar month. At some Dragon Boat celebrations, rice rolled in leaves is tossed in the water so that the fish can eat the rice instead of the poet.

A Dragon Boat team has of paddlers, 1 drummer, 1 steersperson and up to 4 alternates. The race is about 500 meters (about 1/3 mile) but in Chicago, the race is a bit shorter because of the configuration of the river.

Races begin with a time trial to determine the seed for each boat. Then are elimination heats and matches.

Dragon Boating is new to Chicago. In addition to the race in Ping Tom Park, there will be a race on July 27th for the International Dragon Boat Festival. If Dragon Boats sound interesting to you, check out the Dragon Boat Meetup.

In the Northern Hemisphere (Canada & the U.S.) there are some large Dragon Boat Festivals. Here are the top eight: