The giant head of Christopher Columbus atop a float rolled down New York City's Fifth Avenue today as the parade named after the explorer attracted thousands of onlookers waving Italian flags on the 8th. On the 6th, I was lucky enough to see the Korea Times Parade. I was heading to Times Square to get some Wicked tickets, and happened to cross 38th street. Apparently around 10 parades representing different countries are held during the Columbus Day Weekend in New York, and of those countries Korea is the only Asian country that partcipates in the parade.

I was surprised by the number of tourists who gathered to view the Korea Times Parade. I am guessing people became more interested in Korea after Psy's song, Gangnam Style hit the Billboard charts. At the Korea Times Parade, around 140 teams of marching band, Korean traditional percussion music teams participated in the parade for 2 hours. Moreover, It was very interesting to see some hundred K-pop fans voluntarily participated in a Gangnam Style flashmob parade.