Korean Americans in the Washington region are celebrating Harvest Moon this weekend and welcome everyone to join the fun.
The autumn festival is celebrated in South Korea with a 3-day holiday, a period of thanksgiving.
Locally, the festival is unfolding in the parking lot of Bloomingdale’s at Tysons, where there’s a soundstage and food as well as vendors under tents. The festival runs until 9 p.m. Saturday night and starts up again at 10 a.m. on Sunday, ending at 8 p.m.
“This is where, not only Koreans, but every other diverse community can come together, have fun, get to know each other,” said Steve Lee, president of the Korean Americans Association of Greater Washington. “We have the stage completely scheduled out for 2 days … We have 10 different countries’ foods.”
There are banquet tables and chairs set up under tent tops so people can relax and dine on the delicacies, and Lee promised the stage would be filled with music, including jazz and blues.
Lee estimated that there are about 300,000 Korean Americans residing in the District, suburban Maryland counties and Northern Virginia, with the majority living in Fairfax County.
“This is like our fifth year coming here, it’s lots of fun, it’s … a Korean American cultural celebration,” Bum Lee of Centerville said, visiting the festival with his son.
