More than 2,500 rowers gathered at the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in New York City's Queens borough on Saturday to celebrate the 29th Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, the largest of its kind in the United States.

Over 200 teams from the Greater New York area joined this year's two-day competition. For the first time, a Regular Women's Division has been added to the festival.

Starting with only 10 teams, the festival has endeavored to promote Chinese culture in New York through sports and has won great support from local communities, according to Henry Wan, the chairman of the festival host committee.

"Traditional Chinese culture is deep and sophisticated. So we believe it's easier to make people of other ethnic groups to learn it through sports like boat-racing, because a lot of people love sports," said Wan.

Besides cheering for the rowers paddling through the water, thousands of viewers could also enjoy performances beside the lake, including traditional lion and dragon dances, music, story-telling, and martial arts.

A food court was also set up on the bank offering various Chinese dishes including dumplings and fried rice, as well as South American, Indian, and other cuisines.

The tradition of dragon boat racing is an annual Chinese rite commemorating the idealistic poet and politician Qu Yuan who drowned himself over 2,200 years ago in central China's Miluo River. The locals raced in their boats in an attempt to rescue the poet, beating their drums and splashing their paddles to scare away fish and water dragons.

(Cover image via VCG)