Korean Festival to celebrate culture

The 18th annual Korean Festival is scheduled for Saturday to celebrate Korean culture with virtual K-pop artist APOKI, song and dance contests, Korean street food, drinks and other festivities.

It is the first time the festival will be held since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Frank F. Fasi Civic Center Grounds.

Being the only Korean festival in Hawaii, individuals of all backgrounds can have the opportunity to experience Korean culture, said Gina Nakamura, the president of the Hawaii Korean Chamber of Commerce.

“Hawaii’s Korean community is very small,” Naka­mura said. “If you are second, third or fourth Korean generation, it’s really hard to see anything Korean, except if you go to a Korean restaurant.”

Nakamura has even seen festival attendees become emotional at the rare opportunity to learn about their Korean heritage.

The first Korean Festival was organized by the late Donald Kim in 2002, one year prior to the 100th anniversary of the first Korean immigration to Hawaii.

“Before 2002, there weren’t any large events or anything to showcase Korea,” Nakamura said.

With K-dramas and K-pop adding to Korean culture’s increasing popularity, the festival now attracts people of various ethnic backgrounds, Nakamura said.

This year attendees can browse a photo exhibit that will feature Korean, Chinese and Filipino immigration photos, or try on traditional Korean clothes and take photos in that attire.

From 6 p.m. there also will be performances by Korean and Filipino dance groups and a Korean song and dance contest featuring contestants preselected from auditions that were held Aug. 6.

The Hawaii Korean Chamber of Commerce also will announce its college scholarship awardees, where three Korean American students will be selected to receive $2,000 each.

Unlike previous festivals, this year’s event is expected to feature fewer than 10 food vendors, Naka­mura said. The pandemic cut down on restaurant staff, keeping some of the usual vendors from being able to participate.

But typical Korean street foods are still expected to be available, with dishes like kimchi pancakes, barbecue chicken and tteokbokki. Attendees also can sample various Korean alcohols at the festival’s soju and beer garden.

Along with the festival’s usual kimchi and black bean noodle-eating contests, a buldak noodle-eating contest also will be included this year.

Buldak means “fire chicken” in Korean, Naka­mura said. Because the noodles are extremely spicy, she expects the contest to be fun.

Apart from the games and excitement, Nakamura sees the festival as an important tradition that keeps Korean culture alive in Hawaii.

“If we didn’t have this, the next generation will never see all of this,” Nakamura said. “They won’t have the opportunity to see all these Korean traditions. This brings them closer to their community and their background that they didn’t have before.”

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Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.