K-CON NY 2019: Convention
A convention that continuously has one-uped itself, not only one-uped for this year, but it made us die to know what they have in store for 2020.
K-Con NY, had two new venues this year. The convention was held in the Javits Center, and the concerts were held in Madison Square Garden (MSG). We, at first, were a little nervous of how that scenario would work out. Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of fans leaving one venue to walk to the next? All we could think was chaos. We were proven dead wrong. There was no issue at all. Fans filed out when they felt like it, and walked to and from the venues with ease. And while the sweltering heat and nearly suffocating humidity would’ve been a problem at the previous convention location, the refreshing air conditioned Javits Center made for an amazingly enjoyable experience.
And with the new indoor location, came fun and creative booths from both vendors and K-con themselves. As we walked around we found so many Instagram worthy sets, including the new trend of a ball pit filled with inflatable flamingos and donuts.
The K Food Fair within the convention offered K-con goers a one of a kind food experience. We got to sample Korean melons, pears, crunchy ramen snacks, and even a meal worm burger (which was shockingly delicious). Bibimgo offered samples of their 만두(mandu- dumplings), Melona had people spin a wheel to pick from a multitude of flavored ice cream pops, and for sale was Kung Fu Tea, who sold out by mid day both days.
After eating our way through the convention, it was time to shop the convention. The dominating force was Korean skin care. As Korean drama and K-pop fans all know, Korea takes their skincare very seriously and that prestige showed. There were several k-beauty, skincare, and makeup booths that came to show both their new and tried and true products. While we received a handful of samples, we also ended up purchasing some goodies as well. (Hint: we will be doing a skin care blog soon.)
Albums stalls had lines wrapped around them twice if not three times of eager fans waiting to get their hands on exclusive merchandise, posters, and above all else, albums. There was even a small amount of clothing booths (we had actually hoped for a few more) that not only promoted k-pop, but Korea in general.
To put it simply, our bank accounts were heavily depleted.
The other aspect of the convention was panels. There seemed to be a lot more panels then previoulsy, which we have the larger venue of Javits Center to thank. These panels covered creative things like create your own fansign, and making your own embroidered patch, to educational like Women in Hallyu media, and how to start your own YouTube channel. Fans got to sit in and listen to some of their favorite YouTubers, artists, and industry professionals and left feeling inspired.
While we couldn’t cover the fan engagements, we did hear from several of the fans in the audience as well as ones who got to meet their idols that it was a once in a lifetime experience. Fans were shown so much love and appreciation from their favorite groups.
This two day experience was one to remember. We ate a lot, we saw a ton of bands, we learned a lot and we simply loved meeting all the amazing fans who love the same things we do! We have already begun to countdown until next K-con!
