WHO WE ARE

The mission of Boston Dragon Boat Festival is to promote and develop the sport of dragon boating, to promote the cultural understanding and appreciation of Asian cultures, and to encourage healthy living for all. We aim to promote this cultural understanding through this sport and our Asian cultural programs. Through both these avenues, we hope to encourage unity and health in our community and Boston.

The festival is now organized by Boston Dragon Boat Festival, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit organization since 2009. All board and committee members are volunteers. We work hard year round to bring dragon boat festival and races to the people of Greater Boston every year on the second Sunday of June.

About

The first Dragon Boat Festival in the US

The first North American Dragon Boat Festival was brought to Boston in 1979 by three educators at Boston Children’s Museum.

Marcia Iwasaki, Nancy Sato, and Leslie Swartz, in collaboration with Chinese community groups, created an event intended to bring together Boston’s diverse Chinese communities with all neighborhoods of the region. Research revealed the perfect event: a dragon boat festival. Boston needed a Dragon Boat Festival!

At first, the festival featured large dragon-head constructions created by teachers and students in Boston Chinatown. These were attached to leaky old Boston Public School long boats, hardly racing boats! The festival also included music, dance and martial arts performances, and participatory arts and crafts. From 1979 until the 80s, the festival was held intermittently.

In 1994, The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office offered the Dragon Boston Festival several sleek fiberglass dragon boats. Enter competitive dragon boat racing. Now the largest Asian cultural festival in New England, it has now grown into a major Boston sporting event with ~70+ teams competing on a course on the Charles River. It is also a major Pan-Asian cultural and culinary event, with vibrant performances, engaging hands-on activities, and food trucks featuring Asian foods. Annually, tens of thousands of children and adults flock to the banks of the Charles River by the Weeks Footbridge to enjoy the festivities and races.