As Americans have Thanksgiving, Koreans have Chuseok. Every year on Chuseok, Korean families visit their hometowns and have a large feast with their families in this three-day holiday. But this year in NYC, we got our own experience of Chuseok although it wasn’t exactly traditional. This year at the Chuseok Festival in NYC, we got to see amazing performances from the talents from JYP Entertainment.

Upon arriving from the train station, we came across a park. We decided the logical thing was to follow the Koreans even though some of them didn’t know where they were going either. After walking for several minutes we decided that pathways were for squares and just walked on the grass. The whole time walking, we ranted and raved about the performance we were so excited to see. We found the festival in the up diagonal-ish direction in the park. After our experience with arrows, we decided that arrows are deceiving and evil.

At the festival we saw an array of different things. We saw cute children in traditional Korean garb, lots of adorable puppies, many booths with food, and long lines for bubble tea. We also saw really hot Korean guys but for some reason, they’re hotter here than they are in Korea. Tsk, tsk. The cool hair didn’t deceive us that day. As we made our way to the stage, we tried to get to the VIP section. The security guard hassled us and wouldn’t let us through as if we were rabid fangirls or something (where would he get that idea from?). As we waited for everyone else to arrive, we decided to eat. Of course, we ate food that wasn’t Korean. A lot of the food was expensive and didn’t look too filling so we settled for a gyro. After we ate, we walked around and eventually bumped into Mia and her translators, Danny and Mike. With Mia, we got into the VIP section easily. Maybe it was because the original security guard wasn’t there but when we showed our cards, the security guard let us through.

In the VIP section, we immediately saw Hoc, Lan, and the awesome cameraman, David. David was incredible since he had to carry around that giant camera so we thank you so much! David gets and SSS from us (squeak, scream, and squeal)! We waited a really long time before anything really happened. Eventually, the stars trickled in one by one. G-Soul, J-Lim, Min, the Wonder Girls, and eventually JYP himself appeared. The other teenagers who were in the VIP section jumped, cheered, and screamed as the stars appeared. As the Wonder Girls appeared, a giant police barricade was setup and everyone was pushed back. Within the next half hour of waiting behind the barricade, we were told to come in for the interview with the Wonder Girls! We went under the barricade, as requested by one of the coordinators of the event but the security got all offensive so in the process, Mia and her translators got left back.

In the tent, we found the five girls standing in a line waiting for the interview to start. They greeted us with pretty smiles and waved. We had given Miss Info the questions so she conducted the interview as David filmed, Lan took pictures, and Hoc looked on. We, of course, took pictures as well. To our surprise, most of the interview was in English, or at least their responses were. They sounded as if they had been studying English for a long time. While the interview was taking place we took a lot of pictures and even Sun Ye posed for us. It all went very smoothly and the girls looked like they enjoyed it.

After the interview we waited in the back and watched the dancers practice for their performances. We got to see some awesome dancers such as Jason, D, and Sean. Each of the dancers seemed to come on and off the stage after each performance. We watched a bit of Min, J-Lim and G-Soul perform each of their songs. Each of them were terrific. But when the Wonder Girls appeared on stage, the crowd cheered loud! It wasn’t as loud as we had hoped though. As the Wonder Girls appeared on stage, they said a few words and proceeded with their performance. They performed “Irony,” “이 바보 (This Fool),” “This Time,” “So Hot,” and “Tell Me.” As “Tell Me” came on, we all broke out into dance! A lot of the Korean people were looking at us because we seemed to be the only ones dancing! It was tons of fun but we totally forgot what was in store for us next…

JYP himself came up on the stage to perform! A video of most of his works had been displayed up on the screen. Of course, many screams came on when Rain appeared on the screen. JYP wore a red shirt, tight pants, and a ribbon tied around his shoulders for some reason. He performed songs a variety of songs such as “Kiss,” “Honey,” and more. We were on a constant watch for Mia since we were afraid she was going to pass out from excitement! Ha ha! During his performance, JYP would stop between songs and say a few words half in English and half in Korean. His reaction from the audience was amazing. We had some people trying to sneak into the VIP section of the festival just to get good pictures of JYP. But for a lot of people, it was hard to get one up close since he left immediately after his performance.

After the performance, many of us were just happy with the turn out. We met up with Hoc, Lan, and David just to talk a bit. We saw some prizes from a raffle being held laying out. About a good twelve people didn’t claim their prize. If only we could’ve taken them! We all then said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. The park, once again, was incredibly long, but we passed the time by singing and dancing on the way out!

Our experience at the NYC Chuseok Festival is definitely an unforgettable one! It may not have been exactly a feast of any sort. We all had tons of fun talking with people, watching live performances, and being hassled by security! Ha ha! This ended our day at the NYC Chuseok Festival. Next stop, NYAF! We hope to make NYAF even better!