The third annual Korean Festival is expected to bring in 40,000 people to the Suwanee Town Center Park Oct. 15-16, a number that would nearly double the Korean population of Gwinnett County.
According to Kevin Kim, Atlanta Radio Korea host and festival coordinator, the event, the largest Korean gathering in the Southeast, serves as a bridge between the local community and Korean Americans, many of whom “are struggling to adjust to a new life in America,” he wrote in a release.
Several Korean businesses are in Duluth, but numerous Korean households are located in Suwanee.
“We estimate Korean American history in Georgia began about 40 years ago,” he said. “We have every range of immigrants. Someone who came here in the 1970s is more American than someone who came here five years ago. If someone immigrates at an old age, they have trouble assimilating.
“We find it interesting that in our community everyone looks Korean, yet they all have such different belief systems.”
The festival will celebrate many cultural traditions, including a simulated Korean wedding and village and Taekwondo displays. But there will also be playful, modern flourishes, including a hip-hop dance-off and a giant bowl of the Korean comfort food bibimbab, enough to feed 500 people, as well as an equally novelty-sized kimbap, a Korean type of sushi.
There will be several giveaways, including free round-trip airfare to South Korea. Music and dance performances and contests take place on two stages throughout next weekend.
The event is sponsored by Kia Motors, Doosan Infracore, Korean Air, H-Mart and Metro City Bank among others.
“All the major players in the Korean community in Atlanta or in Georgia are all involved in this event."
The Third Annual Korean Festival. 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 15. 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 16. Suwanee Town Center Park, 330 Town Center Ave., Suwanee.
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