Posted on: Sunday, January 16, 2005
Dancers, pop stars draw a crowd
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
WAIKIKI — The strains of ethnic Korean music filled Kapi'olani Park yesterday at the fourth annual Korean Festival.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser It was the traditional dances and dress that drew New Jersey residents Annette and Fred Thau to the festival. Annual visitors to Hawai'i, the Thaus said they felt as if they were witnessing many of the same things they'd experience had they been visiting Korea.
"We come to Hawai'i every year for three weeks at this time and we always plan to come to this," Annette Thau said. "We like the dancing and the music."
The festival is put on by the Hawai'i Korean Chamber of Commerce. Rex Kim, chamber president, estimated that the daylong event attracted more than 40,000 people.
The purpose is to bring the Korean community together and to show off the talents of its people, Kim said.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser Inside a tent was an exhibit booth filled with Korean traditional masks and clothes, tea sets and richly colored rice paper on display and for sale.
Last year the festival was two days and drew more than 60,000 people. The festival included food, entertainment, Korean costume dress-up in traditional hanbok, a mini-market with popular Korean products, a youth karaoke contest, cultural artifact displays and a kimchee eating contest.
Jae Im Choi, a 13-year-old 'Ewa Beach resident, came in fourth place.
"It was spicy, but not too bad," Choi said. "The funny part was the gifts they gave afterward: gum and mints."
There are an estimated 40,000 native Korean residents in Hawai'i, Kim said. The first immigrants, 102 of them, came to Hawai'i in 1903 by boat. Hawai'i was the first U.S. destination that Koreans immigrated to.
Sitting on the grass before the bandstand, Bruce Watson and his two daughters were soaking up Korean culture. Last summer, they spent a month in that country and were homesick for things Korean.
"We're having fun," said 6-year-old Kyra Watson.
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
Traditional dancers wearing brightly colored costumes entertained on the bandstand at midday while watchers sat on benches or on blankets and enjoyed the cool southerly winds. By evening the big draws were South Korean pop stars Bada & J.
Members of Bususae, a musical group from Seoul, South Korea, were among the performers to take the stage yesterday at the Kapi'olani Park Bandstand during the fourth annual Korean Festival. The event helps raise money for college scholarships.
Proceeds from the festival pay for college scholarships for students, he said.
Two festival attendees get a lesson on the cultural significance of masks from Hyoncha Koga at an exhibit booth. Masks often were worn to vent stress and frustration, according to Koga.
