MY 2016 CHICAGO KOREAN-FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE
Hey guys! I feel bad for always saying that I'll open up my graphic shop soon or make a new fanfic soon and never actually doing it so I'll just update everyone on how my summer's been going. Chicago recently held their annual Korean Festival (2016 was their 21st time). I attended for both days (Aug 13 - 14). The festival is meant for people to gather around and share their love for the Korean culture along with their talents. There was food, k-pop, merch (for the first time) and contests. On Aug 13, which was Saturday - I went at 3pm, 6 hours after the festival started. I walked around for a bit, went to get bubble tea and gimbap. I stood to the side to see people just get up randomly and dance to whatever song was on. There were a lot of throwbacks, which brought back a lot of memories I loved it. After a few hours, I got hella bored. Although it wasn't lit, I stayed until the singing competition was over. I also went on Sunday, Aug 14. AUG 14 WAS LIT AF. I LOVED IT SO MUCH. If you guys follow me on Snapchat or Instagram, I was the happiest person alive tbh. I still went at 3pm and I kinda regret not going earlier cause I missed the mass majority of GEMINI's and APOLLO's stage. Note that the festival was FREE entrance. I first heard of GEMINI when he did one of his covers but never really looked into him, same with APOLLO. When I heard they were going to perform at k-fest I started to look into them more (no regrets at all). After their performance, they were having a meet and greet but I had to leave for the time being (I WAS DEPRESSED). Then, the k-pop singing and dancing competition started. The performances were great, all the competitors gave it their all and it was nice jamming with them. After their performance, the judges were picking who would advance to finals. After that, Elephant Rebellion performed their Sijo. The lyrics were amazing and empowering (check them out)! After their performances, a couple showed us how to cha cha and everyone had great hip movement. It was 7pm and the finals were starting. I stayed to watch the whole competition and I do not regret, everyone showed something new and did an amazing job. HOWEVER, I heard that GEMINI and APOLLO were going to perform an encore and sell more merch and I couldn't be more happier I cried LEGIT TEARS. Their music is great, I honestly don't know why I never looked into them more when I first heard about them. GEMINI gave us so much fanservice - from pouring water all over himself to drinking half a bottle of water and dumping the rest on the crowd to stripping off a layer. GEMINI and APOLLO went around and gave us all high fives (SMOOTH SKIN). Their encore was a great way to end the festival. Of course, I had to go buy their merch when I had a chance. I bought 2 GMNI snapbacks, one for me and the other for my sister. We couldn't get APOLLO hats cause I ran out of money (I CAME HOME WITH ONLY $1 LEFT). Next time I meet them, I would for sure buy 2 of APOLLO caps. I also got to meet them, take a picture with them, and let them sign the snapback. GEMINI also signed my phone case. I have huge regrets not letting APOLLO sign my actual phone but it's cool, I still appreciate the pictures. I went home and I knocked out with great memories. I would love to end this blog on a positive note but unfortunately, I can't. As I was watching GEMINI's live stream on Facebook, he expressed his disappointment as he found that some people stole some of their merch. That got me sooo mad. People need to understand that selling merch is their way of making money to produce their music. Stealing merch was such a ty thing to do when there are people who gracefully even purchased their hats. The hats were $20 each and that's a hell of a GREAT price at a FREE festival where you can for FREE meet APOLLO and GEMINI to take pictures and express your support towards them. They didn't even have to stay for an encore, they were great enough to stay for an encore in the blazing heat after a rough flight because about 1,000 fans showed up to support them. Although this was a horrible situation, I am happy to say that those that ran the k-fest are looking into this manner and banning those from coming back to the festival and all other KCONS. It's very disappointing that people would actually act like this, keep in mind that after the encore, most of the people there were probably LEGAL ADULTS. Disgusting. Hopefully this doesn't happen again, it gave such a bad reputation on the fans in Chicago as a whole. Overall, the k-fest was a great experience yet again (I went 3 years in a row) and I am totally going next year as GEMINI and APOLLO might be attending again next year also.
SUPPORT THEIR MUSIC:
https://soundcloud.com/aaronx102
https://youtube.com/officialgemini1
SUPPORT THEIR MUSIC:
https://soundcloud.com/aaronx102
https://youtube.com/officialgemini1
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