Posted June 5, 2023
Row New York to Host the First Masters Regatta in Meadow Lake’s 84-Year History
Row New York is proud to present its first USRowing-sanctioned event, the Meadow Lake Masters Regatta, on June 10, 2023 in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens. The event is poised to cement its place in history as the first Masters rowing race to take place on Meadow Lake since it was completed for the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
Rowers are invited to assemble a team or join as singles to compete in a 1000m sprint on Meadow Lake. The event will host various sculling (two oars) and sweeping (one oar) events including lightweight, open and Adaptive categories, and will be overseen by Chief Referee Stacey Ornitz.
Currently, there are limited opportunities for Master rowers to participate in regattas without holding a rowing club membership. This inaugural event will allow individuals and groups throughout the tri-state area, with or without a club affiliation, to row competitively. Proceeds raised from the regatta will benefit Row New York’s youth, Adaptive, and Veterans rowing programs, and academic and college support services.
Participants have until June 6 to register on Regatta Central and entry fees start at $50 for one person, up to $125 for a team of eight. Teams may trailer their own boats to the site or rent a boat from Row New York. Races will begin at 8:30 a.m. and community members are invited to attend as spectators, see the crews setup then speed down the racecourse, and enjoy a beautiful Saturday on Meadow Lake.
About Meadow Lake & the World’s Fair Boathouse
Meadow Lake was constructed as part of a larger urban renewal project spearheaded by NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses in the 1920-1930s. As the city’s population steadily expanded into Queens and Long Island, Moses saw an opportunity to not only beautify but expand the city’s landscape. When asked to help plan the 1939 World’s Fair, Moses took it as an opportunity to not only stimulate economic activity, but to speed up completion of his dream to build a system of public parks throughout the boroughs comparable to Manhattan’s Central Park.
Prior to construction, the tidal marshes which surrounded the lake were used as a dumping ground for incinerated trash, and fringed by a small neighborhood known today as Corona. Formerly the Corona Ash Dump, the site was decommissioned to make way for what would become NYC’s fourth largest park, Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, and its sister lakes–Meadow and Willow. While all remnants of the dumping ground and some of the lakes’ surrounding tributaries have since disappeared, the Corona Ash Dump’s legacy lives on as the “valley of the ashes” in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The project, and incidentally the World’s Fair, became a symbol of cultural advancement driven by Moses’ vision for a more beautiful and progressive New York City.
Upon completion in June 1938, the lake would be the backdrop of the World’s Fair Amusement Area–a low-brow but widely popular zone during the events’ two-year stint in NYC. Of the many buildings constructed for the exposition, the boathouse on Meadow Lake and Queens Museum (formerly the New York Pavilion) are the only two original structures remaining. In 2009, the boathouse underwent a two-year, $7.2 million renovation with funding from then Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and Council Member James Gennaro, reopening in 2011.
Today Row New York shares space at the World’s Fair Boathouse with NYC Parks & Recreation and the New York Dragon Boat Festival, and operates rowing programs for girls and gender-expansive youth right on Meadow Lake.
