Charlotte Dragon Boat Festival Race
Ramsey Creek Park • Cornelius, NC
Organizers: Carolinas Asian-American Chamber of Commerce, Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation, Charlotte Dragon Boat Association
The Charlotte Dragon Boat Festival is held each spring. Since its debut in 2006, the race has been held at Ramsey Creek Park on Lake Norman in Cornelius, N.C. The Carolinas Asian-American Chamber of Commerce (CAACC) and Mecklenburg Park and Recreation Department have served as co-organizers each year, thanks to a partnership forged in 1999 to introduce Asian culture and traditions to the greater Charlotte community. Volunteers from the Charlotte Dragon Boat Association have contributed many hours to the success of the festival since the inaugural festival. In 2010, the Charlotte Dragon Boat Association has taken on a more formal role in the organization of the Dragon Boat Festival Race.
The Charlotte Dragon Boat Festival Race is held in conjunction with the popular Asian Festival, launched in 2000. Asian Festival-goers enjoy a wide variety of traditional Asian offerings in food, stage performances, exhibits and merchandise Festival-goers also enjoy the young talents in the Miss Asian Festival Scholarship competition.
In 2005, the idea of launching a Dragon Boat race as a community building event was first proposed as a major Crossroads Charlotte initiative by CAACC. It was enthusiastically endorsed by a majority of the Crossroads Charlotte participating organizations.
Each Charlotte Dragon Boat Festival Race hasa been a big success in terms of attendance level as well community team participation. Teams have included those from the business community, non-profit organizations, high schools, colleges, citizen groups and breast cancer survivor teams from Atlanta and Charleston, SC. For more detail, please visit www.charlottedragonboat.com.
The Carolinas Asian-American Chamber of Commerce (CAACC) is a nonprofit, all volunteer based organization. Founded in 1999, CAACC serves as a bridge to connect Asia and the United States in general and the local 40,000 plus Asian-American residents to the Charlotte community at large. With its increasing membership, CAACC’s focus is to continue to nurture, strengthen, and empower the Asian American business community in economic growth, Asian cultural awareness and active engagement in civic affairs.
For more information, please visit www.caacc.com or call 1-866-YES-ASIA.