The Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival

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The Hong Kong Dragon Boat Fest is the raucous, unassuming underdog of the often hoity-toity world of boat racing. , the fest features a thousand competitors racing narrow, 40 foot-long boats festooned with dragon headsin dozens of heats in Flushing Meadows Corona Park's Meadow Lake for $60,000 in prizes. A raucous and frantic affairby racing  manically bashing drums to set the pace, and setting off firecrackers in the water.The races started as a celebrating the spirit of Qu Yuan�a wise Chu kingdom minister who drowned himself in 3,000 years ago after a malicious prince assassinated his character� Meanwhile, music and dance performances, crafts, and, of course, face painting, entertain the wee ones. The spirit of Qu Yuan, whom the racers are ostensibly attempting to rescue, is surely delighted. — Amos Barshad