From Jan. 17-18, K-PLAY! FEST returned to Fairplex, an event space in Pomona, bringing back a festival space for K-pop fans in Los Angeles in addition to four Asian culture events.
Established in 2021, this traveling event series has made appearances across the West, including Seattle, Phoenix and the Bay Area, and has come back to LA with the new year. K-PLAY! FEST offered a weekend full of random dance play, photocard album trading and decorating, and a variety of small businesses and artists. K-PLAY! FEST shared the event space with Anime Impulse, Collectors Expo and the Asian American Expo, bringing together a variety of fandoms and communities.
These events fall under the pop-culture event management company Impulse Universe. One ticket to one convention granted attendees access to all the conventions at the venue.
“K-PLAY! FEST’s goal is to mainly just be very community-driven. We want to make our event very accessible and very fan-centered, especially in times right now, where there can be some divisiveness in our society,” said Philiciti Rito, the programming director for K-Play Fest.
The Impulse Universe gives attendees the opportunity to experience multiple aspects of Asian pop culture and to meet others who share the same passions. The Anime Impulse event includes a vendor hall featuring official merchandise for sale, an artist alley, an itasha showcase and cosplayers. The Collectors Expo offers several vendors who sell trading cards, retro games and vintage collectables. Finally, the Asian American Expo offered deals for food brands and gave Asian companies the chance to showcase their services with games and freebies.
“I think our biggest selling point is we have different communities coming together, not only just K-pop, but we have anime, collectors and TCG people also, of course, LA specific, we have Asian American Expo,” said Nhi Nguyen, the media marketing manager of K-PLAY! FEST.
In addition to vendors, the event featured activity areas, where attendees could dance, decorate or take photos.
“You can always enjoy a group from a distance, but going to conventions or going to concerts and stuff, you interact with people a lot more, and you see these organic interactions with people where you’re trading., People just give you stuff for the love of the game,” said attendee Mark Knapp.
In the artist alley, artists sold their fan-made work to the attendees, from apparel merchandise to keychains and K-pop lightstick accessories.
“It just shows how mainstream a lot of these things have become now, and because of that, we’re able to create more community with the people who are really able to embrace their interests,” said Kelly Levine, a video editor based in Los Angeles.“I think that’s really cool.”