This past weekend was the one and only LA Korean Festival hosted by the LA Korea Festival Foundation. It’s been well known, as it has been the biggest Korean event during the fall season for the past 40+ years! Every year this event gets bigger, and I was lucky enough to attended such a fun event. There’s so much to see that it might take four days to see everything going on! This year, it took place from September 18th until the 21st. The festival itself was to celebrate the Korean culture as it has expanded through generations in the LA area. The festival is like a learning event to educate everybody who attends; they are mission donations, traditional performances on stage, hand crafts sections for families to come together, and other things to help those who are still learning in the culture, or keeping their traditions.
The event was split into separate areas. Most of them were dedicated to different types of foods, drinks, and imported goods that you can tell was fresh off the boat from Korea. The imported food was sold in a hallway with both sides covered by the different vendors. Many of them reached out toward customers and handed out samples, really making it feel like you stepped right off the plane to Korea yourself!
As a K-pop fan, we know some of the latest beauty trends by each of our favorite artists and idols. Those trends include make up, fashion, and skincare. All of these trends were highlighted in this event. There were several sections of the festival and lots of shopping going around. Many small businesses were selling their handmade crafts and accessories. One of them truly caught my eye as a unique item. Not only did she have scarves and headbands, but a twist on both! Instead of just a normal bandanna, or headband, the bandanna was wrapped with an edgy flexible gold or silver chain, to move the fabric into a bandanna to easily tie at the top of your head. Not only does it make it easier to tie a du-rag around your head, but it shines in a unique way. This was just one small company to the many hand-made accessories that were on sale at this lively festival.
Apart from the make up, there was a booth dedicated in several locations to an organic skin care cream. The eye-catching aspect in this is the fact that the lovely idols, EXO are helping sponsor! They had carboard cut-outs of the eleven members to take pictures with, posters and fans to give to the fans taking pictures. It was so much fun seeing all the fans by their favorite members doing their funny poses. This was the perfect way to make it even more exciting for to bring together K-pop fans and nonK-pop fans. PS: Seeing those adorable toddles playing with Luhan or Kai fans was probably the cutest thing ever.
All the shopping is a great experience, although! There was one thing in particular that I was going to stay for. On the performance stage, they had a K-pop Dance Cover Competition! They included dance teams as well as individual performers to perform their own take on the kpop dance routines we all love. They went from simple choreography, like Red Velvet‘s Happiness, all the way to remixes of songs like Super Junior M‘s Swing and EXO’s Overdose. All of it made me want to jump up and join them on stage!
All of the finalist were incredibly talented and put in a lot of work that had paid off. As a dancer and fan of K-pop dances myself, it was inspiring to see how creative of a performance each team did; seeing the sound change and the transition being just as smooth blew my mind away! The one dancer that I think stood out apart from everybody else, was a solo dancer, whom performed the BoA song, “Only One.” Watching the performance of Only One, was mood lifting, as her fluid movements resembled BoA’s polished posture. There was also a small twist that really brought smiles to faces, as she brought out a younger sibling, to dance along with her as he played the role of SHINee‘s Taemin. The chemistry between the two was joyous as they kept connection through each movement, and brought smiles to the crowd’s faces.
My first day at this festival was amazing, and I’m glad that I got to see and be part of such a great event. I felt like I have learned so much, being a non-Korean fan of their culture. This weekend was full of many things, and now I can’t wait to tell you all about the next day and the ending ceremony!
Maddie M.
Kpop Buddy
