KCON Los Angeles is finally upon us this Friday, August 19 through Sunday, August 21 — and people are wondering WHAT DO I DO?! How do I navigate through this mecca of all things Hallyu?

We’re here to give you some important information:

What is KCON?

First held in 2012, KCON has grown greatly, becoming the convention for all things K-Pop and K-Culture. As someone who has attended the convention in its early stages, the first convention attracted 10,000 visitors and grown to 291,000 in 2019. The pandemic had the convention go virtual — attracting more than 22 million viewers over the last two years. Now returning to in-person events, this convention will feature dancing, K-vendors, and for those in the KPOP world — PC trading. There will also be two nights of concerts that must be purchased separately.

What is there to do?

There are SO many vendors and activities for audiences of all K-world to enjoy. There are panels going on throughout the convention with stars like Kevin Woo, Amber Liu, Alex Reid, TikTok’s Reiner Acuario, journalist Liam McEwan, and many more. There will also be meet-ups by fans of certain KPOP groups — Atinys, Stays, Orbits, Engenes, and many more! So, keep an eye out on Twitter!

There will also be booths that focus on K-Pop dancing hosted by renown dance studio, Steezy.

Also, did I mention all the photo ops? Vendors like Bibigo, McDonald’s, CJ ENM, Toyota, and many more will have little giveaways and surprises — like potential meet-and-greets with several of the artists performing this weekend.

Where do I go to do all these things?

All of the events will happen at the Los Angeles Convention Center — both halls. The concerts will be held at Crypto.com Arena.

We’ve added the maps here:

What about the concerts? Who is performing?

Friday will have rookie trainees performing at the convention — with purchase of a convention ticket. Check out the rookies who you’ll fall in love with pre-debut.

The debuted lineup for both Saturday and Sunday concerts are pretty epic. Night 1 will have Ateez, Stray Kids, Cravity, Enhypen, INI, ITZY, Kep1er, and Lightsum. Night 2 consists of Loona, NCT Dream, NMIXX, P1Harmony, STAYC, The Boyz, T01, and WJSN.

What about food?

We got you covered on that too!

You can’t have a Korean Pop Culture convention without your choices of Korean food. Bibigo will have a dining area set up alongside the food vendors outside the convention. There will be PLENTY of choices from local Korean restaurants.

Prepare your tummies.

Honestly, is this all worth it?

As someone who has been attending KCON since it’s early stages and seen the growth of Korean pop culture happening throughout the years, it’s pretty worth it as the convention (and concerts) celebrates all things K-Culture. From K-beauty (and the wonderful samples given out) to fans passing out K-Pop photocards, KCON celebrates everything you love about the pop culture. Also, the chance to see your favorite idols up close is worth it.

For more information, check out KCON’s site for more details and to purchase tickets, check out www.kconusa.com/la.