The 3,000 paddlers who will raceat the Riverfront Dragon Boat andAsian Festival on Saturday and Sun-day range in age from teenagers topeople in their 70’s. They are stu-dents, secretaries, surgeons, andCPA’s. They live in big cities andsmall towns.But they have one important thingin common – their shared passionfor dragon boating, a sport thatbegan more than 2,000 years ago inChina. In addition to being fun,dragon boat races are seen as havingimpressive benefits.Participants express it differently.Corporate teams talk about how thedragon boat experience fostersteambuilding among employees.Breast cancer survivors say that to-gether they are stronger than they’dbe as individuals.“When we introduced dragonboating to the Riverfront in 2001,we saw it as a fun activity that couldinvolve groups of people,” saysCharlie Myers, Riverfront Recap-ture’s Director of Events and Pro-grams. “We never expected it togrow into a two-day event the wayit has.” This year’s field of 92 teams and3,000 paddlers is the biggest yet.“With more entries in this year’s

race than ever before,” Myers says,“the Hartford-East Hartford River-front has established itself as one ofthe most popular dragon boatingsites in the United States.“We’re pleased that 34 club teamsfrom six states, including dragonboat hot spots like New York City,Philadelphia, and Boston, have reg-istered for the races,” Myers says,“and we are especially encouragedby the participation of 58 localteams, representing a cross-sectionof the community – corporations,government, and nonprofit groups.” This weekend’s dragon boat racersare carrying on a tradition set byChinese villagers who believed thatdragon boating protected membersof the community from unfriendlysprits of the seas – blessing the com-munity with happiness and prosper-ity. According to legend, a popularChinese poet and statesman namedQu Yuan was expelled from officeby unscrupulous ministers. In a dra-matic protest against political cor-ruption, Qu Yuan drowned himselfin the Mi Lo River. Local fishermenrushed out in boats to try to save him– and to prevent his body from beingeaten by fish. They beat drums,

Hartford NewsVolume XXXV Hartford’s Only City-Wide Community Newspaper Number 15

The August 15 – 22, 2013

FREE

Riverfront One Of Most PopularSites For U.S. Dragon Boating

Dancers, Drummers, And A MartialArts And Fitness Expo AmongAsian Festival’s Highlights

Continued on page 3

While dragon boat paddlers com-pete on the river, Mortensen River -front Plaza in downtown Hartfordwill blossom with the colorful sightsand sounds of Asian cultures duringRiverfront Recapture’s Dragon Boatand Asian Festival on Saturday andSunday, August 17 and 18.“We have scheduled two full daysof authentic Asian performances, rep-resenting many Asian cultures,” saysJessica Leone, Riverfront Recap-ture’s Public Events Manager. Festi-val entertainment runs from 10am to3pm on Saturday and Sunday. Allperformances will take place on theplaza. (A complete schedule of per-formances can be found on page 3.)Returning by popular demand thisyear is Dance China NY, an award-winning group of dancers and musi-cians from New York City, whoelectrify audiences with their per-formances. New to the festival thisyear is LiLiu, a Chinese acrobat, anda performance by Lao American Cul-tural Heritage. Several local organizations also areperforming, including UConn Taiko,a Japanese drumming group from theUniversity of Connecticut, the Chi-nese Culture Center from East Hart-ford, which will include Chineseclassical instruments in their perform-ances, and Asian Performing Arts ofWindsor, which will perform a tradi-tional dragon dance for the festival’sopening ceremonies as well as Chi-

nese classical GuZheng.The Martial Arts and Fitness Expowill include Wushu, Tai Chi, andKung Fu demonstrations – per-formed by experts from the Hartfordregion. New this year are demonstra-tions by Downtown Yoga, Hot HulaFitness, Aikido Hartford, and more. Festival-goers who work up an ap-petite watching all that activity canchoose from a variety of Asian foodvendors, who will offer Chinese,Thai, Japanese, and Vietnamese del-icacies for sale. Children are invited to participatein an arts and crafts booth where theycan make a variety of crafts to takehome or get their faces painted, allfree of charge. The Teach Art 2 Mebooths are open on Saturday andSunday from 10am to 3pm on theplaza. Jennifer DeCristofaro, authorof Lucky Bamboo Crafts, will in-struct children in a dragon boat craftand sign copies of her book for pur-chase.“The richness of the vibrant cos-tumes, many of which come fromAsia, combine with the music anddance to transport spectators to a dif-ferent part of the world,” Leone says.“For two days, the Asian festivaltransforms the Riverfront into a cele-bration of Asian cultures and intro-duces our guests to sights and soundsthat maybe they have never seen orheard before. And it’s all free.”

2 13th Annual Riverfront Dragon Boat & Asian Festival

Club Teams Vie To Represent U.S.At World Dragon BoatChampionships In Italy

While club teams paddling in Sunday’s dragon boat races on theRiverfront certainly want to win their divisions, many of them will havetheir eyes on a bigger prize – qualifying points to represent the U.S. at the2014 World Championship in Ravenna, Italy.The Eastern Region Dragon Boat Association (ERDBA) has sanctionedthe Riverfront Dragon Boat & Asian Festival as a race where club teamscan earn points towards a spot in next year’s world championship.And the Riverfront Dragon Boat & Asian Festival has the distinction ofbeing the largest ERDBA point qualifier. Club teams can earn up to 60points – because the Riverfront event includes 1000M and 2000M races inaddition to the more typical 200M qualifiers and 500M semi and final raceswhere clubs can earn no more than 15 points.“As a result, spectators can expect to see some of the most competitiveteams in the country battling it out at this year’s Riverfront Dragon Boat &Asian Festival,” says Randy Ng, Chairman of the ERDBA RaceCommittee.On every odd year, clubs in the ERDBA race for the opportunity to rep-resent the United States Dragon Boat Federation at the InternationalDragon Boat Federal Club Crew World Championship the following year. Race Divisions span from Youth (age 13-18) to Grand Dragons (age60+). Within each division are three categories, including Women, Open,and Mixed. Depending on the race venue, each division and category isgiven the opportunity to win points based on each distance they participatein.“We have 34 club teams coming to the Riverfront from Massachusetts,New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont to com-pete in Sunday’s races,” says Charlie Myers, Riverfront Recapture’sDirector of Events and Programs. “And with qualifying points on the linefor a possible world championship berth, this will be no ordinary day ofracing.” “We welcome those 920 club team paddlers to the Riverfront,” Myerssays, “and wish everyone a safe, successful experience in what we expectwill be hotly-contested races. It’s going to be fun to watch.”

Anytime Fitness

Bushnell Park Foundation

Chinese Culture Center

Chinese Language School of GreaterHartford

Common Law, Uncommon Paddles

CRT Dragon Wave

Downtown Yoga

Dragon Fire

Dragon Heart

Dragon Slayers

FM Dont Panic

FM Insta-Gator

Foley Fire

Gilbane Cast-A-Ways

Glastonbury Chamber Paddlers

Goodwin College Navigators

Greater Hartford Jaycees

Hartford Police Explorers

Henkel One 'Swimmers'

Henkel Two 'Boaters'

Hunger Heroes

HYPEsters

Lincoln Financial Group

MMI Wyvern Warriors

MTU Aero Dragons

National Association of Asian AmericanProfessionals

Paddle Oar Die

Roaring Dragons

Ship Faced

Sikorsky Asian American Association (SAAA)

SMC Swaggin' Dragons

Swashbucklin' Scallywags

Team ESPN

Tsunami Tserpent Tslayers

Turnpike Motors Autobody

Aetna Blazing Paddles

Aetna Dragons Fire

Aetna Law Shock & Awe

Aetna Sync or Swim

Aetna Take a Bow

Aetna Unified Elements

Aetna’s Blades of Glory

Aetna’s Eye of the Dragon

Get Aetna Get Healthy

City of Hartford Mayor Segarra's Team

City of Hartford The HHS Enterprise

East Hartford Dynasty

Hartford Steam Boiler Steamin' Dragons

MassMutual MassAttack Team 1

MassMutual MassAttack Team 2

MDC Water Dragons

Pratt & Whitney Fei Long

Pratt & Whitney PurePower

Team Riverfront

The Hartford StagOn

The Hartford Staggering Dragon

UTAS Blazing Paddles

UTAS Bridge Dodgers

1. Club - Mixed Division(22 Participants)

DCH Laker Mercer ........................Corona, NY

DCH Racing 1 ................................Corona, NY

DCH Racing 2 ................................Corona, NY

Dragonheart Vermont Strong....Burlington, VT

Dynamic Paddlers ...................Norristown, PA

Electric Dragons.......................Rego Park, NY

Goldman Sachs Tritons.............New York, NY

Harvard Dudley .....................Cambridge, MA

Ithaca Gorges Dragons...................Ithaca, NY

Living Root Blue.....................Dorchester, MA

Living Root Red......................Dorchester, MA

Machestic Dragons ......................Skillman, NJ

MAD Blue .....................................Bayside, NY

Malia Mayhem.........................Burlington, VT

New York Wall StreetDragons BLACK ........................Rutherford, NJ

New York Wall StreetDragons RED............................Rutherford, NJ

Ocean State Dragon Boat Club.......Warwick, RI

Stay MAD......................................Bayside, NY

Team Dragons ......................Scotch Plains, NJ

Team Kaya..................................Bellerose, NY

Vitasoy Seadogs .........................Brooklyn, NY

Wicked Tuna................................Malden, MA

2. Club - Women's Division(7 Participants)

Dragonheart Green Mountain GirlsBurlington, VT

Dragonheart Vermont Senior WarriorsBurlington, VT

Dragonheart VT SnapdragonsBurlington, VT

Philadelphia Flying Phoenix Premier FlamePhiladelphia, PA

Philadelphia Flying Phoenix Senior FirePhiladelphia, PA

Schuylkill DragonsBala Cynwyd, PA

Women In CanoeNew York, NY

3. Club - BCS/ACS (5 Participants)

Dragonheart Vermont SisterBurlington, VT

Empire Dragons NYCNY, NY

Hope ChestGetzville, NY

Philadelphia Flying Phoenix Against the WindPhiladelphia, PA

Wellness Warriors BostonNewton, MA

Club Teams racing Sunday, August 18, 2013

Community Teams racing Saturday, August 17, 2013

THE TEAMS

Visit the Many Food &Merchandise Vendors &

Exhibitors at the Asian FestivalJay R Thai Chinese Food (Thai-Chinese): Spring Roll,Vegetable Fried Rice, Vegetable Chow Mein, Chicken

Skewers, Beef Skewers, White Rice, Bubble Tea, Cashew NutChicken, Orange Chicken, Pad Thai, Lemonade, Iced Tea

Thai Awesome (Japanese): Okonomi-yaki with top-ping, Chicken, Shrimp, Beef Teriyaki on rice or pasta,Smoothies, Bubble Tea, Lemonade, Limeade, Water,

Japanese Soda, Soda

Bangkok Gardens Restaurant (Thai): Pad Thai,Chicken and cashews, Fried Rice, BBQ Chicken

Siam Glastonbury (Thai): Chicken Satae, Grilled PorkSkewer, Thai Dumpling, Vegetable Dumpling, Siam Roll,

Curry Puff, Pad Thai Tofu, Crab Rangoon

M&M Fresh Fruit Salad (Vietnamese): Fruit salad,Vietnamese hot food, beverages

Rita's Italian Ice

Hammerhead's Seafood: Chicken or Beef Teriyaki,Shrimp or Chicken Tempura, Shrimp Fried Rice, Spiral

Potato Fries, Lemonade, Iced Tea

Get It Toasted: Toasted Sandwiches, Fruit Smoothies,Pickles, Chips, Drinks

Norden Arts: Handmade Scarves, Clothing & Bags

G & J Company: Beads, Jewelry, Scarves, Handbags

Connecticut Chinese Culture Association

Chinese Baptist Church of Greater Hartford

National Association of Asian AmericanProfessionals-CT

Asian Pacific American Coalition - CT

Chinese Language School of Greater Hartford

Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhists Association,Hartford CT

MassMutual

Next Step Living

Capitol Chiropractic Center

New England Urgent Care

Silverleaf Resorts

John Casablanca's

Access Health CT

13th Annual Riverfront Dragon Boat & Asian Festival 3

thrashed the water with paddles, andthrew rice dumplings into the riverto appease the water dragon.In that rescue attempt, the sport ofdragon boating was born. Dragon boat racing was confined

to Chinese fishing villages until1976, when an effort began in HongKong to introduce dragon boat rac-ing to other countries. In 1982, theUnited States Rowing Associationwas asked to start a dragon boatteam. A group of rowers in

Philadelphia decided to give it a try.The following year, in 1983, thatfirst team from the United Stateswent to Hong Kong – and finishedsecond behind the Chinese team.In 1990, the International DragonBoat Federation was formed and

held its first World Championshipcompetition in 1995. In 2001, morethan 20 countries from around theworld competed in the WorldDragon Boat Championship racesin Philadelphia – and dragon boatsmade their first appearance on the

Hartford-East Hartford Riverfront.“Now we’re welcoming 3,000paddlers for a fun weekend of rac-ing,” says Myers. “Dragon boatinghas come a long way in the world –and on the Riverfront.”

Continued from page 1

Riverfront One Of Most Popular Sites For U.S. Dragon Boating

4 13th Annual Riverfront Dragon Boat & Asian Festival