The Korean Festival Committee of Orange County announced on May 24 that they will hold the 39th Arirang Festival at Garden Grove Park (9301 Westminster Blvd) from Oct. 12 to Oct. 15.
The committee’s president, Richard Jung, said, “We had been in contact with the city since March to hold a festival at Village Green Park. However, in April, while I was on a business trip to South Korea, the city informed me that a mistake had been made because they didn’t realize that another event was scheduled during the festival. After searching for an alternative venue, we reached an agreement with the city on Garden Grove Park.”
Garden Grove Park encompasses 36 acres and was the site of the Vietnamese community’s UVSA Tet festival for many years. Holding a festival here for the first time, the festival committee said they were pleased with the site visit.
“It’s much bigger than Village Green Park, and parking is convenient,” said Jung. “At Village Green Park, the city limited the number of booths to 200, but at Garden Grove Park, we could easily fit 300 booths.”
In response to the city’s request, the committee submitted a festival site plan, disclosing their plan to hold 150 to 200 general booths, 70 specialty booths from Korean municipalities, and 40 to 50 food booths.
They also plan to hire a carnival company to set up various rides to fully utilize the large space and attract more visitors.
Garden Grove Park is about two miles away from the OC Korean Community Center. The committee believes the park’s proximity to Little Saigon will work in its favor.
Since the festival will be held in conjunction with the Vietnamese community this year, Garden Grove Park could be a more favorable location to attract visitors.
“We’re trying a lot of new things with this year’s festival. There may be trial and error, but we will work together with the Vietnamese community to make the festival as wonderful as possible.”
BY SANGWHAN KIM [support@koreadaily.com]
