Written by Corwin Gibson
Saturday, 09 February 2013 00:00
Saturday, Feb. 9, marks the eve of the lunar new year, and the Sedona Korean-American Association plans to start the year off right with its third annual Lunar New Year Festival at the Sedona Meditation Center.
Local merchants and restaurants will be present at the event, which goes from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and includes a wishing tree, traditional Korean games and a Korean film screening.
Guests can put their own wishes and dreams for the year inside paper cranes, which will then be hung from the wishing tree for the full 15 days of the Lunar New Year observance until the Full Moon Ceremony on Monday, Feb. 25. The games include a kickbag-type game called jegi chagi and a stick-tossing game called yunnori.
KBS2 (Korean Broadcasting System), the biggest out of the four major South Korean television networks, recently broadcast a 10 minute segment on Sedona, Arizona. The very popular Korean TV program, “Good Morning Korea”, one of the more famous morning shows in Korea, airing nationwide, (like “Good Morning America” in US), is watched by a large percentage of the 50 million people in South Korea for entertainment and as a way to determine where they should go on their next vacation. With South Korea’s high economic growth, much of the population is traveling abroad and taking in the wonders of the world.
Sedona Korean American Association President, Banya Lim, stated that “these two “Good Morning Korea” segments will definitely be a big impetus in bringing many more Korean visitors to the Sedona area. Every Korean seeing this will put Sedona on their travel-wish-list”.
In addition to being broadcast in South Korea, the 10 minute segment can also be seen on You Tube < http://youtu.be/IUhtAPEAy8A >. Although currently only in Korean (except for the interviews with Sedona residents and visitors), it will shortly have English sub-titles added. On January16th, the 2nd episode aired <http://youtu.be/zMBteh1AXBM >.
The introduction to the segment states (loosely translated) that “A Meditation Healing craze is blowing in the world! In the Western United States go to Sedona. Sedona is located in Arizona! “If God created the Grand Canyon, Sedona is where he lives.””
“Sedona is a place with natural beauty. Particularly spacious, it is reported to be a region of strong magnetic field energy with its Red Rock vortexes; Sedona is for all to hear and feel where you can taste the essence of a refreshing Healing Trip! Let’s overlook the breathtaking beauty of nature. In the United States, Sedona Healing Meditation Energy is Healing the world.”
The TV segment shows Sedona in an extremely popular light. It shows Uptown Sedona very positively, as well as the Red Rock State Park and Bell rock. It has numerous interviews with Sedona residents and visitors and views a “Full Moon” celebration and people from the Sedona Meditation Center meditating near Cathedral Rock.
After the show, “Sedona” ranked as one of the “hot searching key words” in two major search engines in Korea, Naver.com and Daum.net. This means many Koreans, web searched Sedona to know more, after watching the broadcasting. “Sedona(세도나)” hit number 1 in Daum.net and hit number 5 in Naver.com. What a big plus for Sedona.
Hopefully, we can all look forward to many more visitors from Korea in 2013.
On November 17, Banya Lim, a president of Sedona Korean American Association and Sedona’s Rhythm, Korean drumming team visit Korean War Veterans Association(KWVA) meeting in Prescott, AZ in special recognition of 2011 Veteran Day.
From Left: Paul Yanson(Director of Sedona's Rhythm), Banya Lim(President of SKAA)
From Left: Paul Yanson, Young Han, Gaye Anthony, Banya Lim, John McKinney
Sedona Korean 