The National Taekwondo Junior Demonstration from Korea returns to Port Angeles on Friday, Aug. 16, for an extended stay and three performances of their world famous acrobatic martial arts and board breaking demonstrations.  

Grandmaster Robert Nicholls of White Crane Martial Arts in downtown Port Angeles is bringing the team in and hosts them for 2½ weeks at his gym.  

"We heard they loved Port Angeles and wanted to come back, so we agreed to host them again," Nicholls said. "What we didn’t know was that they loved us so much they are bringing twice as many performers and staying twice as long as last time."

Thankfully, Nicholls said, individuals and church groups stepped up and offered to help with cash donations or hosting youths in their homes for the duration.

It is not too late to have youths and their families host the Korean demonstrators, Nicholls said, though a background check is required. White Crane can perform the background checks at the gym, he said.

The team from Korea consists of 23 boys ages 8-15, plus five girls and five coaches.

The first of their show will be at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 17, at the Clallam County Fair’s Wilder Stage. Team members will break boards, perform martial art routines and self-defense demonstrations in the high kicking Korean style of martial art of taekwondo.

A second performance is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24, at Peninsula College. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for youths of ages 5-11 (younger children get in free), and are available at White Crane Community Center, 129 W. First St., Port Angeles.

The team finishes their Pacific Northwest stay by taking the MV Coho ferry to Victoria, British Columbia, performing on the waterfront at the Wooden Boat Show.

Originally put together to do shows during the Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, in 1988, the "Little Tigers" have traveled to America every year since then. They travel to different places each time, Nicholls said, so any given city usually gets them every five to seven years.