Iksan Seodong Festival and Chrysanthemum Festival Likely to Be Canceled

Seodong Festival Focuses on 'Lantern Making', Chrysanthemum Festival Shifts to 'Tourist Site Exhibitions'

A representative from the organizing department is explaining festival trends at the Iksan City Festival Review Committee.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hong Jaehee] The ‘Seodong Festival’ and the ‘Ten Million Chrysanthemum Festival,’ which represent Iksan, Jeonbuk, have been effectively canceled due to the impact of COVID-19.

On the 7th, Iksan City held a festival review committee meeting at the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Integrated Training Center and decided to cancel this year’s ‘Seodong Festival’ and ‘Ten Million Chrysanthemum Festival’ and prepare alternatives such as infrastructure development.

The ‘Seodong Festival’ will not hold events that gather spectators such as the eve ceremony and opening ceremony, and will produce the Baekje lanterns, which will become an asset of Iksan, on its own.

Afterwards, the self-produced Baekje lanterns are planned to be exhibited around Seodong Park in November to present them to citizens visiting the area.

Also, for the ‘Ten Million Chrysanthemum Festival,’ the contracted chrysanthemums from farms that have already started festival preparations will be displayed at major tourist sites such as the Jewelry Museum, and Shinhung Park, where pink muhly grass is planted, will be open year-round.

The department in charge of the chrysanthemum festival said, “Last year, 710,000 tourists visited the chrysanthemum festival, of which 64% were tourists from other regions. Due to the nature of the festival, social distancing is difficult, raising concerns about the spread of COVID-19.”

On this day, the festival review committee members reached this conclusion after hearing about the festival trends and conditions from the officials in charge of the Seodong Festival and the Chrysanthemum Festival.

The festival review committee members said, “We need to develop and consider non-face-to-face festival programs suitable for the post-COVID-19 era. Although canceling the festival is appropriate under the current circumstances, it is regrettable as it does not help local artists and farms.”