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Dragon Boat festival to be July 29-30

Contributed by: Colorado Dragon Boat Festival on 7/19/2006

The Colorado Dragon Boat Festival this year will be held Sat. July 29 and Sun. July 30, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. at Sloan's Lake Park, 25th and Sheridan, with free parking at Invesco Field at Mile High, and shuttle buses running all weekend between Invesco and the park.

Taste of Asia will feature over 20 restaurants. The festival's food vendors take great pride in presenting their countries' respective cultures through their cuisine. Boba teas, mango lassi, taro corn fritters, fried sesame balls and grilled monkey balls (not really monkey!) entice and educate attendees with their authentic flavors and preparation.

Our judges will award first, second and third culinary competition plaques. Our eminent judges will base rewards on taste, quality and presentation. Awards will be announced on Stage at 12:20 p.m. on Sunday, July 30. Restaurants with the highest score will be awarded first, second or third places and rewarded with a Culinary Awards plaque.

There are 94 vendors in all this year - a far cry from the first year's 35 total booths and only five food vendors.

That first year, every food vendor ran out by the afternoon! The only six-year food vendors who have been with the festival every year are Imperial Chinese and Rosa Linda's Mexican Caf, a festival favorite. Although Rosa Linda's isn't an Asian business, the restaurant's owners, the Aguirre family are so community-oriented they offered to support the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival even though it was a first-time, untested event. Johnny Hsu, the owner of Imperial Chinese as well as Palace restaurants, is a longtime supporter of Asian Pacific American events, hosting many community banquets in his venues.

The full list of Marketplace vendors including descriptions is available online at:
http://cdbf.org/page/2006_vendors.

Also featured this year for the first time at the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival is a remarkable culinary artform, Thai fruit and vegetable carving. The festival is proud to present Krongjit "Kacie" Chatuparisoot, Master Thai Chef, in a live demonstration of her sculpting talent, in the Gateway to Asia tent in the Marketplace.

Chatuparisoot was originally trained by the head chefs of the Royal Palaces of Thailand. She has over 20 years experience in the art of Thai fruit and vegetable sculpting. Through her company, De Royale (www.deroyale.com), Kacie's artistic talents shine forth in her original, sculptured fruit and vegetable centerpieces, unique hand carved soap flowers and beautiful, Zen style flower arrangements. She has taught and has been an invited Chef in culinary and wine and food festivals/schools around the world and has been engaged for exclusive social events of all kinds.

Chatuparisoot will demonstrate Thai fruit and vegetable carving from 1:45-3 pm on Saturday, July 29 at Gateway to Asia.

Gateway to Asia, in its fourth year at the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival, is a festival-sponsored tent where instead of full performances, audiences can get intimate and often hands-on introductions to Asian cultures. Whether it's taiko drumming workshops where people can beat on the thundering Japanese instruments, an opportunity for everyone to learn the Filipino Tinikling dance, or just a quiet demonstration of Japanese tea ceremony or Chinese puppetry, audiences have applauded and enjoyed as they learn about cultural traditions from around Asia. The full Gateway to Asia schedule is available online at:
http://cdbf.org/page/2006_gateway_to_asia_schedule.

The Colorado Dragon Boat Festival, a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization, is Colorado's premiere pan-Asian event, celebrating the diversity of the region's many Asian Pacific American populations, from Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese to Japanese, Hmong and Asian Indian, and adding the unique element of Dragon Boat Races. The festival brings Asian communities together to learn about each other and to showcase their cultures for the public at large.

The festival has been held at Sloan's Lake Park in the City and County of Denver since its inception, and has gained support from the surrounding neighborhood.

In the first year, the festival drew 15,000 guests with 35 food and gift vendors, 16 race teams and 200 volunteers. In 2005, the festival grew to two full days, drawing 85,000 guests with 80 Marketplace vendors, 2 full days of Asian performing arts and 48 adult and 6 youth dragon boat race teams vying to win the coveted Dragon Boat trophy. The festival relies on help from 405 volunteers, filling in 618 volunteer shifts!

The event has three main components:

Dragon Boat Racing is an exciting ancient sport that's obviously catching on in Colorado. Dragon boat racing originated in China centuries ago, and will be a demonstration sports during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This year, 48 Adult Teams will once again compete for the coveted Dragon Cup, and eight Youth Division teams will feature paddlers aged 13-17.

The SCFD Tier III Performing Arts Stage showcases not only traditional Asian cultural performances and popular community groups, but also contemporary performers and cross-cultural collaborations.

The Asian Marketplace that has grown over the years from just 35 vendors (only five serving food!) in 2001 to over 90 vendors this year, including the "Taste of Asia" food court with almost 30 booths. The Marketplace also includes our free Dragonland area for kids, and the Gateway to Asia tent, which will showcase intimate cultural demonstrations all weekend long.

This year's major sponsors include Coors, SCFD Tier III, Kaiser Permanente, Gay and Lesbian Fund, Wells Fargo, Denver Newspaper Agency, and WILLIE FM 92.5.




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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Karen Gilbert has posted 714 stories and 44 comments since joining on 5/10/2006. Karen Gilbert's average story rating is 4.82.
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