PEPERO DAY 2025 - THE TIMES SQUARE TAKEOVER

On November 11, 2025, I attended New York City’s Pepero Day Celebration. I didn’t know what to expect when I walked up, but it was a lovely full-day celebration of friendship, culture exhange, and yummy Pepero snack giveaways!

Pepero Day is an unofficial Korean holiday where people exchange Pepero snacks in an act of friendship & love. It falls on 11/11 because the numbers look like Pepero cookie sticks. The day is also the United States’ Veterans Day, leading in a joint ceremony.

The day started off with a Veteran’s Day ceremony, honoring soldiers that fought in war. The New Jersey Children’s Choir sang both the American and Korean national anthems, along with the song “Golden” from Kpop Demon Hunters. Veterans shared their own stories of war and the special friendship, respect and gratitude between America and South Korea.

The gates were opened, and passersby’s were able to go to several booths. One featured samplings of Pepero and a photobooth. One had a traditional calligrapher, who wrote your name in Korean on a bookmark for you to take home. There were giveaways, so many free boxes of Pepero, and exclusive merch.

Pepero partnered with Stray Kids (my all time favorite Kpop group) for Pepero Day. While Stray Kids wasn’t physically present, their faces were all over the boxes and merchandise, signage, and there were spots to take photos with cardboard cutouts.

The day was long, but jam packed with activities. Besides the booths, there were Squid Games inspired games, and Pepero characters to take photos with. Local Kpop dance groups performed dances to Stray Kids songs, on theme with the event, as well as some other songs in the scene.

I spoke to a few people as they passed by, just curious about the event and free snacks, and they stayed to watch the dance events. Hours after the opening of the celebration, Pepero hosted a Kpop Random Dance Play, an event where a dj plays random clips of songs and if the crowd knows the dance, they hop in the middle like a flash mob. It was one of the most fun parts of the day! There were so many talented dancers, and they had so much fun dancing with strangers, all united in knowing and learning the choreography.

I’m so glad I went! It was nice to experience the music and dances, win free snacks and learn more about Korean and Kpop culture. ❤️