Visitors dressed in brightly colored hanboks and áo dàis filled Garden Grove Park the last four days as the community came together to celebrate Asian culture at the 39th Arirang Festival.
Also known as the Asian Pacific Festival, this year’s event was jointly put on by Orange County’s Korean and Vietnamese communities. The festival featured hundreds of booths selling food, crafts and traditional products, as well as a variety of activities, ranging from carnival rides to K-pop dances and a beer garden to traditional cuisine.
Visitors had the opportunity to watch a taekwondo martial arts demonstration, samul nori percussion quartet performance and a Korean and Vietnamese fashion show. They could also play traditional Korean games.
Garden Grove, where the multi-day festival was held, became home to the county’s first official Koreatown in 2019. Last month, nearby Buena Park, with its hub of Korean businesses, followed suit, designating its northern portion as Koreatown.
While the Arirang Festival started out in Garden Grove, in recent years the two cities have alternated playing host.
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