Oriental Dragon makes just one run through town this year on a longer route

ORIENTAL — The Oriental Dragon — a village tradition since 1962 — makes her annual New Year’s Eve run through the streets Thursday.

The Dragon will be sporting new teeth and will make just one dash through town instead of the traditional early and late evening appearances.

Perry Cheatham, one of the dragon masters of the sponsoring Oriental Dragon Society, said overzealous revelers plucked some of the dragon’s teeth during last December’s late night run.

Too, he said organizers had a hard time finding enough participants for security and to carry the dragon on the second run.

The 8 p.m. dash through town will cover 10 blocks beginning and returning to the Inland Waterway Treasure Co. at Hodges and South Water streets.

The dragon run is the centerpiece of a town-wide celebration.

“Pretty much every restaurant in town is having New Year’s parties,” he said. A local group, the Soul Shakers, will perform at the Silos.

There are about a dozen people involved with guiding the dragon, which measures about 45 feet.

“It takes eight people under the dragon, and we try to get at least two in front and couple more to keep an eye on things. It’s hard to see where you’re going,” he said.

One person is in the lead beneath the ornate dragon head.

“It’s a different person every year,” Cheatham said. “It’s usually the tallest person we can find that’s healthy. They have to be in good shape.”

Gary Gresko, an Oriental sculptor, helped the dragon society re-tooth the dragon.

“Then we went through an implant procedure,” Cheatham said. “Nobody here has ever done dragon teeth before. The people who did the original ones are long gone.”

According to local lore, the dragon was the vision of some villagers including Joe Cox, a painter and North Carolina State University design professor.

According to the society’s dragon bio, “on New Year’s Eve she marched through the streets, bothering dogs and delighting neighbors.”

The dragon made a drop-in visit that night at the Rotary Club dance.

The dragon has always been kept in relative hiding throughout the rest of the year, but in the 1970s, the original dragon disappeared. Some local folks believe she was washed away by a storm.

Cox, along with Betsy Cox and Charlie Kahn built a new dragon.

By the mid-1990s, the dragon was showing her wear and tear, so a group led by artists Bonnie Kendall and Charlie Bird built a new high-tech dragon, made totally of recycled materials.

In 2007, the dragon body, made of wool, was replaced with a more colorful one made of spinnaker cloth.

Now, with new teeth, the dragon will emerge from a hiding place somewhere near town and ring in the New Year with a merry romp through the village.

On the Web: orientaldragonsociety.org

Charlie Hall can be reached at 252-635-5667 or chall@freedomenc.com