About the Festival

In the Press

There be dragons here!
By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN
The TImes (Pawtucket) 09/10/2007

PAWTUCKET - The weather was as hot as a dragon's breath. Yet, an estimated 10,000 people visited the School Street Pier on Saturday to watch the 8th annual Rhode Island Chinese Dragon Boat Races and Taiwan Day Festival.

The event, spearheaded by Pawtucket businessman and restaurant owner Louis Yip, was created as a celebration of Asian heritage and culture. It is sponsored by the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Boston as well as the city of Pawtucket, the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, and the Pawtucket Arts Festival.

Since its inception, the event has grown considerably, drawing participants interested in watching the colorful dragon boats race up and down the Pawtucket River as well as the Asian dances and martial arts performances. For children, there are also demonstrations of traditional arts and crafts and Asian games and sports.

This year, 24 teams competed in the dragon boat races for cash and prizes. Teams represented numerous local businesses and organizations as well as the more professional dragon boat racing groups from across the Northeast.

Pawtucket Mayor James Doyle was on hand at the opening ceremony, thanking Louis Yip and fellow event supporter Sunny Ng for bringing the Dragon Boat Races and Taiwan Day Festival to the city.

Noting the record attendance at the previous night's "Taste of Pawtucket" gala, Doyle commented, "The city of Pawtucket is on a roll! This weekend, we put a new face on the old lady."

Doyle also thanked Bob Billington, president of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council; Herb Weiss, the Pawtucket Arts Festival chairman; and Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who was instrumental in the city obtaining a donation of six dragon boats from the Taiwan government.

Other local dignitaries included "the two Patricks," Attorney General Patrick Lynch and Congressman Patrick Kennedy, both dragon boat race veterans, as well as U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a first-time participant.

Miss Rhode Island, Ashley Bickford of Newport, also doffed her crown and donned a racing jersey to participate in one of the heats.

In the second heat of the day, The Pawtucket Times/Woonsocket Call's team "Huff and Puff Dragons" had the pleasure of beating Patrick Lynch's "Spiderman II" crew -- a boat which contained Lynch, Whitehouse -- offered a seat by Kennedy -- and Miss Rhode Island.

Both Yip and Billington expressed their pleasure at the large turn-out, which marked another successful year for the event. Billington noted that each year, his staff discusses ways to improve the site-such as this year's addition of granite benches. "We want to make it comfortable and fun for the people of the community," he stated.

Among those enjoying the festivities were Eleanor McKenna, of Providence, and her 4-year-old daughter, Charlotte. McKenna said she had heard about the event in previous years and decided to attend this year. "We watched some of the races. It was great," she said, while Charlotte proudly showed off a macramé doll and cut-paper lantern she had made in the free arts and crafts tent.

Richard Smith, of Cranston, said he had been to the festival several times before with his family, which includes his 8-year-old daughter Rose, adopted from China. "We think it's nice for her to get in touch with her cultural roots," he said. Rose said that while she liked watching the dragon boat races, it was the "Dragon Dance," performed by a Chinese folk dancer in an intricate dragon costume, which especially caught her eye.

Among the racers, Joseph Arnold Jr., an employee of Miriam Hospital, said that a Lifespan team representing employees of Miriam Hospital, Rhode Island Hospital, Hasbro Children's Hospital, Bradley Hospital and Newport Hospital has participated for the past four years. "We have fun with it, and we get good participation," he said. "We have a core group of 6 or 8 people who come back.

This year, the Lifespan team won a $1,000 prize given for breast cancer supporters, money that will be donated. "And we beat Memorial Hospital!" Arnold proudly noted, while teammates Carlos Robles and Robert Vallande, along with team "chef" Dan Contois, hooted happily behind him.

Kevin Nagle and Mike Shaughnessy, co-captains of a racing team called the Loose Screws, said their crew consisted of correctional officers in the Norfolk County Sheriff's Department. "We came down here last year and had a good time," said Nagle, wearing his team's T-shirt that bore the slogan: "Take No Prisoners."

"We made it to the finals," he said. So we thought we'd come back and try to go all the way."

Laurie Foster, who works in The Times' classified department, brought along her father, Kevin, to join the Huff and Puffs' team. Although it was Laurie's first dragon boat experience, Kevin said he had raced in previous years as part of the Memorial Hospital's crew.

Times and Call publisher Barry Mechanic also convinced his son, Michael, to paddle for the home team, while Times' staffer Bob Hughes, a veteran dragon boat participant, manned his usual position that helps guide the carved vessel.
Besides the race participants and scorekeepers, the busiest person of the day just might have been Cory Sukaskas, who was manning the Del's Lemonade cart. With the sweltering temperatures, he estimated he had scooped thousands of cups of lemon slush. "This is the third time we've run out," he said at around 2:30 p.m. "I'm waiting for my brother to bring refills."

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