PORTLAND ROSE FESTIVAL DRAGON BOAT RACE WEEKEND IS THE SECOND WEEKEND OF JUNE!
The PKSCA is excited to present the Portland Rose Festival Dragon Boat Race, the second weekend of June, at the South Hawthorne Waterfront Park.
South Hawthorne Waterfront Park, Portland, OR, Second Weekend of June – The Portland-Kaohsiung Sister City Association (PKSCA) presents the Portland Rose Festival Dragon Boat race annually. The race is the second Weekend of June and is free and open to the public. This race involves around 50 teams, Women’s, Mixed, Open, and High School, racing in the incredibly special traditional-style Dragon Boats from Taiwan. Each race has 4 teams compete by sprinting 500m down the Willamette River ending at the bowl in the South Hawthorne Waterfront Park where their flag catcher reaches out from the dragon’s head to capture their flag. Saturday’s heats define the playoff bracket, and Sunday is when they compete for their medals. The opening ceremony is Saturday, 8 am June 8th. Races run from 8:00 am till around 4 pm Saturday and Sunday. The awards ceremony takes place around 3:30 on Sunday . Come enjoy Race weekend with us, there will be food and retail vendors, and many exciting races for all to enjoy on the waterfront at 1403 S Harbor Way, Portland, OR 97201. The event is free and open to the public.
The first Portland Rose Festival Dragon Boat Race was put on by the PKSCA in June of 1989, 34 years ago. The race attracts teams from the Pacific Northwest and around the world. The traditional-style boats are unique and incredibly special. Each of the 8 boats is just over 40’ long with a colorful dragon head molded in fiberglass on the front and a tail in the back. During a race each boat has a caller, a drummer, 20 paddlers, a flag catcher, and a tiller. The race ends after a 500 meter dash when the flag catcher climbs the dragon head and reaches out to capture the flag. Each team has its own culture and story, made up of people 14 and up, from all walks of life drawn together by their love for Dragon Boat racing. This year we are introducing an Open Division, with no gender restrictions. It is a rare sport where everyone is seen and treated as equals, and where there is access for so many. Dragon boating is for everyone, every age, every ability, every body.
The Dragon Boat Festival, 端午節 (Duānwǔ jié) in Traditional Chinese, has it’s history in the Warring States period of China, in 278 BCE when virtuous Qu Yuan, an advisor in the court of Chu and the people’s poet, drowned in the Miluo River in Hunan Province after the capture of the Chu Emperor. After his death he became a water spirit that needed to be appeased. The dragon enters the story as a fundamentally vital part of Chinese culture for over 6000 years, symbolizing divine power and energy that controls the water. The festival, generally considered to have begun about 1500 years ago, has expanded around the world. Today there are year round races and several variations on the nature of the race itself. Although, the joy and spirit of the Dragon Boat Race is shared by all. The PKSCA Portland Rose Festival Dragon Boat Race is proud to be part of this tradition.
The Portland-Kaohsiung Sister City Association (PKSCA), founded in 1987, has presented the Portland Rose Festival Dragon Boat Race annually, since 1989. The mission of the Portland-Kaohsiung Sister City Association is to promote people-to-people exchanges of educational, artistic and cultural activities in accordance with the spirit of the Sister City International and to promote Portland and Kaohsiung, Taiwan to the world. The race is a celebrated and sanctioned part of the Portland Rose Festival. Additionally, the PKSCA works with the Shu-Te High School in Kaohsiung who participate in the annual Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade, as well as having a Dragon Boat team with one of their older traditional-style Dragon Boats in the Starlight Parade.
Come enjoy the Dragon Boat Races this year at the South Hawthorne Waterfront Park (1403 S Harbor Way, Portland, OR 97201) June 8th and 9th and learn more at pksca.net or follow us on social media @pksca.db.race.