Chicago Dragon Boat Race 2013

Twenty-five teams participated in the Chicago Dragon Boat Race for Literacy 2013 on Saturday, July 13th. This year, Ascene Chicago served as the event emcees. Several television media including NBC, ABC7, and Fox News broadcasted the event.

 
This event attracted thousands of visitors who viewed the exciting races throughout the day.


Governor Patrick Quinn in addition to Secretary of State Jesse White attended the event. Ronald McDonald joined our VIP guests in the opening ceremony, rowed in the first race, and had a fun time with the children during his dance number, “Go Active with Ronald McDonald”.


Congratulations to our 2013 Winners of the Dragon Boat Race for Literacy! 

First Place went to the team from Grainger, Second Place was Team Trooper of the Illinois State Police and Third Place was Wheezin Dragon from Northrop Grumman.  Each and every team worked hard training for the event and gave it their all at the event.

Cirque Shanghai thrilled the audience with amazing acrobatic stunts and Xilin Arts Academy and Premier One Academy wowed the crowd with their dance numbers, including the “Gangnam Style Flash Mob Dance” at the end of the day.

 
The newly dedicated City of Chicago Park District Boat House generated new interest from visitors at the event as a result of the vendor booths and children’s activities which were situated next to it.  Among the vendors were the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago Police Department, MetLife and many more.  Charter One Bank was the sponsors for the children’s Moon Jump.

Our 2013 sponsors are:

Official Title Sponsor: Allstate

Official Sponsors: Citibank, State Farm, IL Tourism

Presenting Sponsor: Chinatown Parking Corporation

Event Sponsors: Nongshim, Pepsico, Chicago Sun Times, Crain’s Chicago Business, Chicago South Loop Hotel, Wendella Boats, Ascene Chicago, BMO-Harris Financial Group and Comcast.

Our event partners are Alderman Danny Solis, City of Chicago Park District, Chicago Marine Heritage Society, and Friends of the Chicago River.   Other organizations including NBC, the Chinese media and Choose Chicago have been instrumental in promoting the Dragon Boat Race for Literacy 2013.

The participating teams were: AA Flying Dragons (American Airlines), Allstate, AT&T Dragons (AT&T), BMO Harris Aces (BMO Harris Bank), Deering Dragon (009 District Police), Delta Force (Milliman), Dragon PAC (CDW), DragoNG (Northrop Grumman), Flash Paddlers, Four Star River Ramblers, Gems Give Back (GEMS Program, UIC), Grainger, HSBC Red Dragons (HSBC), McDonald’s, NBC 5 Chicago, Oak Park Families with Children from China, Peking University, Pepsi (Pepsico), Sun-Times Media, Team Dunkin (Friends of Dunkin), Team Trooper (Illinois State Police), Tsinghua (Tsinghua Alumni Association in Greater Chicago), UIC Pyro Paddlers (University of Illinois at Chicago), Wheezin Dragon (Northrop Grumman) and World Book Mighty Dragons (World Book, Inc.).

Photo Album