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On August 26, 2019, Knoxville, Tennessee hosted its sixth annual Asian Festival. This free-admission event was founded by the nonprofit Asian Culture Center of TN in 2014 to showcase Asian cultures across East Tennessee. Executive director Kumi Alderman has done a lot for the Asian community in Knoxville and surrounding cities. While only 3,000 people attended the first festival, the 2018 edition drew about 40,000 visitors to a small downtown footprint. In 2019, the festival moved to the World's Fair Park, which gave it three full acres of room to grow.
A festival that represents all of Asia
Every year the festival represents dozens of Asian countries through country booths, traditional performances, hands-on activities, food, and more. Featured cultures include Korea, Japan, China, India, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and many others. The 2019 line-up also packed in K-pop and J-pop dance performances along with a cosplay contest, so there was something for every kind of Asian-culture fan.
To kick things off, a parade of countries opened the day. Each delegation carried either a banner identifying their country or their national flag. Many participants wore traditional clothing and stayed in it for the rest of the festival. The parade ended at the amphitheater, where each country walked on stage, introduced themselves, and taught the crowd how to say hello in their language.
Inside the Korean booth
I stopped by the Korean booth, where a former language teacher of mine was volunteering. The booth had grown bigger than in past years. As soon as you walked up, framed paintings representing Korea greeted you. One table displayed traditional Korean drums, masks, and other handcrafted items, with the Korean flag hanging above. A second table featured photographs and books honoring Korean War veterans, along with brochures and magazines about Korea for sale.
You could also try on a traditional hanbok, the elegant silk garment with sweeping sleeves and a high waist. The last table in the Korean area offered face painting and two traditional games for festival-goers to play. My brother gave Tuho (투호) a few rounds, the classic arrow-toss game that has been played in Korea for centuries.
The food was the main event
The food park stretched along one side of the World's Fair site, with so many vendors that picking just one was almost impossible. Hey Bear Cafe's booth poured boba in classic clear cups, while another booth served boba in light-bulb-shaped containers that immediately turned into the most-photographed drinks of the day. One vendor was selling tornado potatoes, the spiral-cut snack-on-a-stick that has become a Korean street-food staple.
Korean food fans had plenty of options too. Dragon Cupbop, a Korean food truck, sold Korean rice bowls with noodles, rice, and lettuce, plus five different topping choices and four different sauces. Tomo Restaurant rolled out Korean tacos, kimchi fries, and bulgogi egg rolls, all of which sold quickly to long lines of curious first-time eaters.
K-pop took over the stage
The festival ran two stages with back-to-back performances, including several Korean acts. Traditional Korean percussionists drew an early crowd at the main stage, and Fusion Dance Project, which features performers of all ages, brought the energy with a routine set to BIGBANG's 'Bang Bang Bang.'
Kascade, the University of Tennessee's first and only K-pop dance group, performed snippets of TWICE's 'Dance The Night Away,' B.A.P's 'Feel So Good,' fromis_9's 'FUN!,' and ITZY's 'ICY.' K-pop was in full force throughout the whole festival, with fans singing along to every chorus and joining the choreography from the lawn.
Why this festival matters
The Knoxville Asian Festival has shed light on Asian cultures across East Tennessee for years, creating fun for all ages and educating people who might never have traveled to Asia themselves. It is safe to say that this festival will only keep growing, with more activities and performances each year as it brings together people from very different backgrounds for a single day of celebration.
For Korean-American families and Hallyu fans in the South, events like this make K-culture feel close to home, not something you have to fly across the world to experience. Would you want to come to a festival like this? What would you check out first, the hanbok try-on or the Korean food trucks?
Want to bring Korea home with you? The Daebak Box delivers a hand-picked selection of K-pop merch, K-beauty, snacks, and lifestyle goods straight to your door each month, so you can keep the festival energy going all year long.
