Fairfax County Kimchi Festival 2026: Make Your Own Kimchi, Try On a Hanbok, and Taste K-Food — All Free

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Kimchi gets its own festival in Fairfax this weekend. On Saturday, November 7, the Fairfax County Kimchi Festival takes over the Fairfax County Government Center for three hours of hands-on kimchi making, traditional dress, calligraphy, games, and a full K-food tasting — and admission is free. The event is hosted by Fairfax County together with the K-Kimchi World Solidarity Washington, DC Committee, and it lands a few weeks before Kimchi Day on November 22, in the heart of the traditional kimchi-making season.

The Essentials

When: Saturday, November 7, 2026, 1:00–4:00 p.m. (doors open at 12:30 p.m.)
Where: Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax, VA 22035
Cost: Free admission
Registration: Sign-up runs through Eventbrite. The listing showed as sold out when checked on November 6, so confirm your status before heading out — the kimchi workshop is the capped part of the program, while the cultural activities and tasting are the open-to-all draw.

The Main Event: A Kimchi Workshop for 300 People

The centerpiece is a communal kimchi-making workshop, and it is deliberately limited: the first 300 registered participants, ages 10 and up, receive a ticket at the reception desk and get a place at the tables. Everyone seasons and packs kimchi together, in the spirit of kimjang — the Korean tradition of making kimchi in large batches, side by side, before winter.

The session also features a kimchi-making demonstration led by former Maryland First Lady Yumi Hogan, a Korean-born chef and cookbook author who has long been one of the region's most visible ambassadors for Korean food. For anyone who has only ever bought kimchi in a jar, this is a rare chance to learn the seasoning balance — salt, chili flakes, garlic, and jeotgal — from people who grew up making it.

More Than Kimchi: Hanbok, Calligraphy, and Games

The workshop is only one corner of the afternoon. Guests who are not at the kimchi tables can:

  • Try on a hanbok, Korea's traditional formal dress, and take home a Polaroid photo as a keepsake
  • Have their name written in Hangeul by a Korean calligraphy artist
  • Play traditional Korean games and try Korean paper folding
  • Watch cultural performances throughout the event

Every attendee also receives a free StarKist tuna pouch, and there is a photo stop with Charlie the Tuna, the StarKist mascot — an unexpected but very Fairfax County fair-style touch. Sponsors include Mason Korea (George Mason University) and the Korea Agro-Trade Center.

The Tasting Lineup

After the workshop, the festival serves a tasting of Korean dishes: gimbap (seaweed rice rolls), bulgogi (marinated grilled beef), japchae (glass noodles with vegetables), kimchi pancakes, and kimchi dumplings. It is a smart lineup — the pancakes and dumplings show the two directions kimchi travels in a Korean kitchen, folded into batter and folded into wrappers, while the gimbap and japchae give first-timers milder entry points before the fermented main character.

Why Kimchi Gets a Festival of Its Own

Kimchi is not just a side dish in Korea; the communal making of it, kimjang, was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013. Korea marks Kimchi Day every November 22, right in the middle of kimjang season. Fairfax County is a fitting host: the county and neighboring Annandale and Centreville are home to one of the largest Korean-American communities on the East Coast, and Korean food in this region is everyday food, not a special occasion. A county-backed festival like this one is really that community opening its kitchen door to everyone else.

Tips Before You Go

If the workshop is your goal, arrive when doors open at 12:30 p.m. — the 300 places are tied to registration and a reception-desk ticket, and they will go first. If you are coming mainly for the culture and the food, you can arrive closer to the tasting without missing much. The program runs just three hours, so it pairs easily with other weekend plans — and everything, from the hanbok photos to the last kimchi dumpling, is free.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Fairfax County Kimchi Festival really free?

Yes. Admission, the cultural activities, and the K-food tasting are free. The only limited element is the hands-on kimchi workshop, which is capped at the first 300 registered participants ages 10 and up who receive a ticket at the reception desk.

Can children join the kimchi-making workshop?

Workshop participants must be 10 or older. Younger children can still enjoy the rest of the festival — hanbok try-ons with Polaroid photos, traditional games, paper folding, calligraphy name writing, performances, and the food tasting.

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