[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 11363]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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 RECOGNIZING THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE COLORADO DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL

 Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, today I commemorate the annual 
Colorado Dragon Boat Festival on their 15th-anniversary celebration 
taking place on July 18 and 19 at Sloan's Lake in Denver, CO.
  The Dragon Boat Festival is a ritual that is more than 2,000 years 
old. This sporting event has spread to cities around the world, and 
Denver's Dragon Boat Festival is no exception. This cultural event 
celebrates Colorado's diverse Chinese and Taiwanese population. 
Thousands of competitors and spectators alike gather downtown for this 
annual race.
  The Colorado Dragon Boat Festival has been recognized as one of 
Denver's largest and most prolific cultural events. In 2011, the CDBF 
earned the Denver Mayor's Diversity Award. In 2013, the event received 
the Denver Mayor's Award for Excellence in Arts and Culture. 
Additionally, Director Erin Yoshimura was the first Asian American to 
win the Boettcher Foundation's Livingston Fellowship.
  As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee 
on Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Cooperation, I am 
dedicated to strengthening relationships with our Asian communities at 
home and abroad.
  Best of luck to the 52 teams competing in this year's race, and I 
look forward to many more years of celebrating the Colorado Dragon Boat 
Festival.

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