On Saturday, May 31st, the Chinese American Association of Central Florida (CAACF) hosted its 4th annual Dragon Boat Festival at Moss Park in Orlando . The sponsors included Esquire Legal Group, C.T. HSU+ Associates, Panda Express, and First Oriental Supermarket.

Families from all over Central Florida came to enjoy a day at the park with delicious food provided by Panda Express. The highlights of the event were the exciting Dragon Boat races on the lake with guests signing up and rowing with one of the eight teams for t-shirts, medals and bragging rights for next year’s festival! Esquire Legal Group and C.T. Hsu + Associates won the 1st and 2nd place of the adult teams and CAACF won the metal of the family team. The traditional rice dumplings Zong Zhi were also available to celebrate the tradition.

The Dragon Boat races are held on or about the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese lunar calendar to commemorate a great Chinese Poet Qu Yuan who drowned. When people heard he had drowned, they raced their boats to the lake and threw Zong Zhi into the water to feed the fish and thus save his body.

by Gary King, president of CAACF 2008-09