Tuesday’s Coppell City Council meeting began with the council’s approval of Oct. 21 being recognized as Korean Hanbok Day, representing the Korean community in Coppell.

Multiple Korean organizations with members in Coppell were recognized. City Council Pace 5 member John Jun spoke a few words about celebrating Korean culture in Coppell.

Korean Hanbok Day was declared Oct. 21 in Korea in 1996 and spread to U.S. cities such as Mesa, Ariz.; Tenafly and Closter, N.J.; and Aurora, Colo. Coppell is now on that list.

“It was a national celebration that started in the Republic of Korea and different countries around the world had picked it up,” Mayor Wes Mays said. “We are the first city in Texas to do it.”

October was declared “Arbor Day Celebration Month”  after unofficially being celebrated in Coppell for years during April, the month when Arbor Day is celebrated.

“We do Arbor Day every year,” Mays said. “We’ve been doing Arbor Day celebrations for at least 20 years. We [celebrated] Arbor Month in April often times. We’ve had citywide celebrations for that. But the official month is in October.”

Director of public works Kent Collins delivered good news to residents expressing frustration with construction on Interstate 635 and S. Belt Line Road as traffic is estimated to switch sides on Oct. 31-Nov. 1. The target for completion is early summer, and the construction is on track for that time.

A presentation from the Coppell Sustainable Food Organization recognized the achievements and growth of the Coppell Farmers Market and Coppell Community Gardens and how they’ve been bringing back the sense of community they lost due to pandemic restrictions.

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