Port Jefferson is celebrating 10 years of tradition with the Port Jefferson Dragon Boat Race Festival set to take place on Saturday, Sept. 14.
“It’s the 10th year and also the Year of the Dragon so it’s very special,” Barbara Ransome, director of operations for the Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, told South Shore Press.
After a blessing of the fleet by Buddhist monks, this full day of activity offers three heats of racing competition on the Port Jefferson Inner Harbor in 30-foot dragon boats provided through Great White North. Some 20 teams are anticipated, each with their own encampment and drummer.
“We’re the only dragon boat race festival in Suffolk County,” Ransome said of the event that runs 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Harborfront Park.
For the first time, the Port Jefferson festival introduces a 9-foot fire-breathing dragon, created by a steel fabricator and on display by the harbor since it actually breathes fire, Ransome said.
“We are doing a number of new things to celebrate this 10th anniversary, which is a lot of fun,” she said. Other dragon-themed new attractions include dance, races and paint classes by Muse Paintbar.
Completing the festival are some 30 vendors with food, retail merchandise and other fare; Pan-Asian performances; crafts and activities for children and more.
Of course, the races are the highlight, and they challenge 20 teams, including participants from Stony Brook University, to a 250-meter, three-lane racing course. Besides the racing itself, participants will compete for best drumming performance, best costumes and more.
But the day is also a festive celebration of culture.
“We have a strong population of Pan Asian participants as well as observers that come down to see this very strong cultural event and then, of course, we have the rest of the world that has never even seen anything quite like this, including all the entertainment, which is extraordinary and the singing and modeling,” Ransome said.
Among the performances will be a Lion Dance, Taiko, Korean drums, and Asian singing and dancing.
Ransome recalls how the idea for the festival sprang from a family vacation with her husband in South Jersey’s Cape May where they stumbled upon a dragon boat race festival from which they drew inspiration.
“This is something that we could do in Port Jefferson as we have a harbor and it’s a safe harbor without a lot of water waves.”
With a yellow light from the Chamber’s Board of Directors, Ransome began gathering proposals for the equipment and boats, and Port Jefferson’s dragon celebration became official.
For more information visit the website portjeffdragonboatracefest.com, which also promises a team tug-of-war competition and more than seven themed raffle prizes available at the Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce table.