Color and Tradition : Culture: In Korean Festival parade, immigrants celebrate their heritage and their new homeland.

With the clanging of cymbals, a heart-pounding drum beat and the gentle swoosh of folk dancers in satiny costumes, the 19th annual Korean Festival parade attracted an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 spectators to the heart of Koreatown on Saturday for a colorful celebration of ethnic traditions.

Held along Olympic Boulevard, roughly between Vermont and Western avenues, the parade was part of a monthlong series of events observing the traditional East Asian harvest moon festival, called Chusok in Korea and signifying thanksgiving.

In Los Angeles, the parade was started to offer Korean immigrants a chance to give thanks for their new homeland.

Los Angeles County ranks first in the nation in the number of residents of Korean heritage. Nearly 145,000 Korean Americans reside in the county, about 73,000 of them in the city of Los Angeles, according to the 1990 U.S. Census.

This year’s festive parade wound along city streets that five months ago were the scenes of burning buildings and looting. Parade organizers sought to infuse their events Saturday with the spirit of friendship and community cooperation.

The multicultural onlookers applauded baton-twirling African-American and Latino drill teams, marching bands, equestrians and an array of floats, both modern and traditional.

A troupe of 150 Korean-American youths who had practiced for months performed the graceful nong-ak, or farmers dance, in traditional Korean costumes, while other groups paraded by in huge dragon-faced masks and pirouetted down the street waving immense billowing scarves.

Teams of black-belted practitioners of the Korean martial art tae kwon do kicked their way down Olympic in mock self-defense.

“It’s fun to be able to celebrate Korean traditions like this,” said Susan Kang, 11, who, with her sister Nau was among a group of girls wearing traditional han bok dresses and riding on a float festooned with white doves of peace, sponsored by several Korean-American banks.

The theme of the parade was “Celebrating the Spirit of the Olympics” and it featured as grand marshall Hwang Young Jo, the 1992 Olympic marathon gold medalist from South Korea.

In addition to Jo, five other Korean gold medalists in judo, archery, weightlifting and wrestling flew in for the parade, as did several reigning Asian beauty queens.

Parade officials said there had not been such heavy participation by Korean nationals in the local event in recent memory.

The local community was especially cheered by the appearance of Jo, who was feted at a banquet Friday night.

“With the (civil unrest) that happened so recently in Los Angeles, to have the Koreans take so many gold medals I think was very uplifting for the community here,” said event coordinator Stanley Lim.

The smiling, affable Jo said he was proud to have been chosen grand marshall.

“I had heard about the riots and how painful they are for the Korean community. So it is very important to be able to give something good back,” he said through an interpreter.

This year’s festivities in Koreatown introduced the Turtle Walkathon, a post-parade event popular in Korea and designed to bring together the youngest and oldest members of the family for a leisurely stroll.

Los Angeles parade-goers got to walk the route with the popular Jo. When someone asked Jo if the approximately mile-long walk might prove easier than his winning marathon run, he gestured in mock horror.

“It’ll be a breeze,” he said, laughing.