Getty Chip and Joanna Gaines
Former HGTV stars and Magnolia Network heads Chip and Joanna Gaines were among the attendees at the April 26 White House State Dinner, which was held in honor of the president of South Korea Yoon Suk-yeol’s visit to the United States, and Joanna shared an inside look at the exclusive event in a late-night Instagram post.
“What an honor it was to be a part of tonight’s State Dinner to celebrate the 70 year alliance between the United States of America and my mother’s home country of South Korea,” Joanna wrote in the caption, “Coming off the heels of our incredible trip to Seoul, this evening was another reminder of just how proud I am to be a Korean American🇺🇸🇰🇷❤️”
See Joanna’s post below.
Chip & Joanna Gaines Score Exclusive White House State Dinner Invite
Joanna’s post included a photo of her and Chip arm in arm in front of the White House, with the United States and South Korean flags on either side of them. It also showed a glimpse inside the event, including the massive pink cherry blossom centerpieces that sprouted from each table (which was lined with a light blue tablecloth), as well as a selfie with several other attendees in the background.
The official guest list for the event included many government figures, including President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, the president’s cabinet, several governors, and many members of Congress. Several celebrities were also in attendance, including actress Angelina Jolie (who went with her son Maddox), Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim, and Broadway stars Norm Lewis, Lea Solanga, and Jessica Vosk.
The menu for the evening, prepared by the first lady along with celebrity chef Edward Lee and White House chefs Cris Comerford and Susie Morrison, included multiple courses. First, guests enjoyed Maryland crab cake, cabbage, kohlrabi, fennel, cucumber slaw, and yellow squash soup with cured strawberries, with perilla leaf oil. The main course included beef short ribs with a side of butter-bean grits, sorghum-glazed carrots and pine nuts, and the dessert consisted of a banana split, lemon bar ice cream with berries, mint ginger snap cookie crumble, and doenjang caramel.
President Yoon Suk-Yeol Sang for the State Dinner Attendees
Broadway veterans Lewis, Solanga, and Vosk serenaded their fellow attendees after dinner with a medley of five Broadway hits, “This Is The Moment,” “Happy Days Are Here Again,” “On My Own,” “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” and “Somewhere”. After their medley, Jill Biden asked the trio to perform one of President Yoon’s favorite songs, Don McLean’s “American Pie”. The three sang the song, only to be upstaged later in the evening when President Biden asked his South Korean counterpart to sing a bit of the song and President Yoon obliged, singing the lyric, “the day the music died” to an eruption of applause from the room.
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