PAWTUCKET, R.I. - Few people think of this industrial town as coastal, but it sits at the bottom of the Pawtucket River and the top of Narragansett Bay. That makes it a great spot for the 8th Annual Rhode Island Dragonboat Race and Taiwan Day Festival, which takes place Saturday at the School Street Pier.
Beginning at 8:30 a.m. authentic Taiwanese dragon boats - 54 feet long and 6 feet wide with massive, colorful, handpainted dragon heads - will race the 1,000-yard course on the Pawtucket River. Each boat holds 20 paddlers, plus a coxswain who delivers the cadence on a traditional Chinese drum, and a helmsman who steers the vessel with a 12-foot oar.
Some 40 teams will compete, rotating crews among six boats, so there will be races to watch all day. Some teams will wear traditional costumes, and others regalia that is just plain silly, said Bob Billington, president of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council.
Taiwan Day Festival booths will offer food and entertainment, including dancing, drumming, crafts, and demonstrations of the diabolo, a Chinese precursor of the yo-yo. Demonstrations take place from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Rhode Island Dragonboat Race and Taiwan Day Festival, Sept. 8, 8:30 a.m.- about 5 p.m., School Street Pier, Pawtucket. 800-454-2882, dragonboatri.com. Park at Blackstone Valley Visitors Center, 175 Main St. Parking, shuttle bus to pier, and race viewing free.
Directions: Pawtucket is about 48 miles or an hour from Boston. Take Interstate 93 south to I-95 south. In Rhode Island take exit 27 toward US 1, North Providence, and RI 15, Pawtucket. Keep right at the fork to go onto George Street, which becomes Park Place East. Turn right onto Main Street, then left on Roosevelt Avenue to park behind the visitors center.
