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New York Korean Festival Taking Place In New Jersey This Weekend

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The stage for the Korean Harvest Festival under construction at Overpeck Park - Ridgefield, NJ - Oct 6, 2011 (credit: Levon Putney / WCBS 880)

The stage for the Korean Harvest Festival under construction at Overpeck Park – Ridgefield, NJ – Oct 6, 2011 (credit: Levon Putney / WCBS 880)

levon_feature

Reporting Levon Putney

RIDGEFIELD PARK, NJ (AP/WCBS 880) - Organizers say problems obtaining permits forced them to move New York’s annual Korean harvest festival to New Jersey.

WCBS 880′s Levon Putney In New Jersey


The two-day festival will take place this weekend at Overpeck County Park in Ridgefield Park instead of on Randall’s Island, where it was held last year.

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The grand stage was under construction Thursday afternoon.

The event will feature a K-Pop music concert and a performance by The Village People on Sunday.

New York City officials asked organizers to reduce the size of the event because the concert has the potential to draw approximately 40,000 people each day. Organizers have limited concert tickets to 25,000.

“We expect at least 20,000 people or up to 30,000 people [for the festival],” says Yosef Chai, the festival’s technical manager.

He says they’ll have popular Korean musical acts and great food at this traditional celebration of the fall harvest.

“It’s similar to Thanksgiving. So, we call it the Korean Thanksgiving,” he told WCBS 880 reporter Levon Putney.

Members of the Korean American Association said the upcoming festival hurt attendance at their annual event in Ridgefield last weekend.

The association’s Kun Lee estimates the group lost more than $50,000 when more than half the vendors canceled.

Others, however, have said that weather might have been to blame for poor attendance.

What’s your favorite part of Korean culture? Sound off in the comments section below.

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

View Comments
  • S. Lee

    I went to this event and it was overcrowded and I thought the police had poor control over the crowd. People were jumping fences and everything. Nevertheless, it was an amazing event and they had a really great variety of performers! Oh, and it was nice to see a LOT of non-Koreans there!

    • Jamie

      It was awesome, I’d say; Best time of my life ;D They let us into VIP in the middle of the speech period and we totally enjoyed 2PM, DBSK, SHINee, SISTAR, 4Minute and B2ST :)

  • Moongazer

    I Love the K-Pop and R&B, the Dramas, the history, and the food (though I haven’t had much). I hope to visit one day.

  • Kim Chee

    This article is confusing because the event is in NJ but you write that NYC officials limited attendence… and why did this festival hurt the K/.A festival last week? … yes rain would be a factor but vendors cancelled and rebook ed at this event? And why didn’t the K/A Assn co-ordinate with this?
    and 20-30, 000 people in Overpeck park will overwhelm it as well…

  • Jamie

    I love the kpop the best <3 Of course the food is good too ;D I love Korea :)

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