Yeosu City Prioritizes 'Public Health and Safety'... Cancellation of Yeongchwisan Azalea Experience Event

Installation of Portable Toilets and Operation of Temporary Quarantine Situation Room for the Convenience of Spring Visitors

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] The Yeongchwisan Azalea Experience Festival, Yeosu's representative spring flower festival, has been completely canceled.

Yeosu City in Jeollanam-do announced on the 27th that it will cancel the 28th Yeongchwisan Azalea Experience Festival, which was scheduled to be held for three days from the 27th to the 29th of next month, due to the escalation of COVID-19 to a serious level.

Although the official festival is canceled, the city plans to install eight portable toilets at the main venue, Dolgogae Event Site, and three other locations for the convenience of spring visitors, and operate a temporary quarantine situation room.

The city initially intended to hold a scaled-down event with thorough quarantine measures, considering the spread of COVID-19 and economic downturn. However, as COVID-19 spread nationwide, the event organizing committee held an emergency meeting on the 26th and decided to cancel the event entirely for the safety of citizens and tourists.

Yeongchwisan azaleas are one of the three major azalea colonies in the country and attract about 200,000 visitors during the event period.

The organizing committee had been preparing various programs for this event, including the Sansinje ritual, Silver King singing contest, stamp tour, a writing contest based on azaleas, and a drawing contest.

Chairman Oh Jaehwan of the organizing committee said, “We wanted to offer spring visitors more memories with different programs than before this year, so it is very regrettable,” and added, “Although the event was inevitably canceled, we will put more thought into the planned programs and do our best to make next year’s festival richer and more satisfying.”

Meanwhile, Yeosu City has also decided to temporarily suspend the operation of city tour buses from the 27th until the COVID-19 situation stabilizes to prevent the spread of the virus.