Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park turns into New York’s biggest multicultural sporting stage every August, when hand-painted dragon boats line up for two days of racing, drumming, and citywide celebration.
The Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York returns for its 36th year, and it remains free, rain or shine, and open to anyone who wants to spend a summer weekend in Queens surrounded by teams from across the city and beyond.
Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York
36th annual dragon boat racing festival with multicultural performances and international food
Meadow Lake
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens
Sat-Sun, August 8-9, 2026 | 9am to early evening
FREE with vendor booths
This year’s performers include: Beijing Chinese Opera by Chinese Theatre Works, Mexican Folk Dance by Calpulli Danza Juvenil, Afromambo dance by Carmen Mejia, Japanese Folk Dance by Akiyo, Daisy Jopling classical violinist, and New York Shaolin Temple Kung Fu.
It’s wild how Chinese kung fu was adopted by American Black culture in the 1970s. Kung fu culture even made its way into breakdancing, film, and hip-hop. We are all mixed.
The Races
Dragon boat racing traces back more than two thousand years to Chinese rivers and lakes, and the New York edition keeps the tradition intact down to the boats themselves. Both traditional teak vessels and modern fiberglass boats meet International Dragon Boat Federation standards, each one fitted with a hand painted dragon head at the bow and a matching tail at the stern.
Up to 20 people power each boat: a full crew of paddlers moving in unison, a drummer setting the pace, and a steersperson holding the line.
Across the weekend, Meadow Lake hosts open races, youth invitationals, charity races, nonprofit competitions, and corporate challenges, all built on the same premise that brought the festival to New York in the first place: teamwork translated into sport.
Beyond the Water
The festival earns its reputation as one of New York’s largest multicultural gatherings well beyond the lake. The Main Stage runs live musical performances and martial arts demonstrations throughout both days. An arts and crafts area showcases traditional folk craftsmanship, and an international food court spans cuisines from across the city’s diaspora communities.
Try the traditional zongzi (AKA joong), pyramid-shaped sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. They are sort of Chinese tamales with both savory and sweet versions. It’s incredible how people around the world and across time do similar things – because we are all human.
This year’s edition falls in the Year of the Horse, a marker of strength and independence in the Chinese zodiac that runs through the festival’s programming and design.
Origins
The Dragon Boat Festival tradition began in Hunan Province in Southern China, inland from Hong Kong. It was originally a summer solstice festival honoring water spirits. The dragon is a metaphor for the powerful forces of nature. It’s one of the stories that people all over the world tell to explain things.
In Chinese tradition, many festivals are attributed to the death of some great person. Over time the festival became associated with Qu Yuan. He was an advisor to a Chinese leader during the Warring States Period (481-221 BCE). Qu Yuan warned the emperor not to trust another leader. The emperor ignored him and sent Qu Yuan into exile. Hearing that the other leader overthrew the emperor, Qu Yuan drowned himself in sorrow. Many other stories have been blended into the tradition over time.
It’s said that Qu Yuan became a water spirit when he died. To keep the spirits happy, you feed them. People do this all over the world. Qu Yuan’s friends would throw rice into the water, but it was always taken by a water dragon.
The story goes that Qu Yuan later appeared to the people and suggested they wrap the rice in bamboo leaves so the dragon wouldn’t eat it. This is the origin of the festival’s rice-ball throwing tradition. They are rice dumplings called “zongzi” in Mandarin. By the way they are delicious.
Looking at these rice balls reminds us of Puerto Rican pasteles and Mexican tamales. They use different starches, but are a similar form of food. They are also often used for celebrations. Rice is the main starch in East and Southeast Asia (also parts of Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America).
It is grown in flooded fields, so water is important. The annual flood cycle is also vital to farming. A very ancient human concept is that to get something, you must give up something. So people throw a little rice to the water dragons to hope for a good harvest. We all do things like this, or at least we used to.
Today, there are dragon boat festivals all over the world.
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Afterwards, head over to Flushing where at times you may think you are in China.