'2022 Nowon Tal Festival' & Walking the Siheung Haenggung Road with King Jeongjo

[Seoul District News] Nowon Mask Festival Held on 8-9th Along 555m Section from Lotte Department Store to Sunbogeum Church
& Mask Parade Contest, Mask Fashion Show, Madeul Mask Song Festival, Residents' Choir and More Participate & Opening Ceremony Featuring Joint Performance by Residents' Choir and Kim Deok-su Samulnori Troupe, Invited Performances by Guckkasten, Jaurim, Kim Ki-tae, Various Street Performances & Interactive Exhibits, Art Flea Market, Children's Playground and More Fun Activities... Geumcheon-gu, Joint Reenactment of the 5th Jeongjo Daewang Royal Procession on 8-9th 2022

2019 Nowon Tal Festival Tal Parade

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Nowon-gu (District Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it will hold the ‘2022 Nowon Mask Festival’ from the 8th to the 9th.

The Mask Festival, held over a 555m section from Lotte Department Store to in front of the Full Gospel Church, started in 2013, was suspended due to COVID-19, and is now being held again after three years, marking its 8th edition this year. Using masks as a medium, it is Nowon’s representative resident-participation parade-style festival that blends tradition and modernity, dance and music, attracting about 300,000 visitors annually.

The festival consists of a main stage, mask parade, street performances on the lawn yard, experience and flea market sections, and a children’s yard, allowing the whole family from kids to adults to enjoy together.

Starting at 12 noon on the 8th with the nationwide B-boy battle competition on the main stage, the festival opens with a passionate performance by the top domestic B-boy group ‘One Way Crew’.

Following this, from 8 p.m., the opening ceremony begins with a joint performance by about 200 members of the residents’ choir and Kim Deok-su’s Samulnori (traditional Korean percussion) group. The residents’ choir recruited music lovers of all ages since July and practiced to sing about the prosperity and harmony of the district.

Next, the opening invited performances will be held by singer Kim Ki-tae, winner of the 2022 Singer Gain and known widely to the public through appearances on ‘Unknown Singer Battle’, and Guckkasten, featuring ‘Music Captain’ Ha Hyun-woo.

At 11:30 a.m. on the 9th, the ‘Madeul Mask Song Festival’ will take place, where participants selected from village festivals in each neighborhood wear masks and compete. Comedian Pyo Young-ho will host, and singers Han Seo-kyung, Kim Yang, Mr. Pang, and Chae Eun-jung will appear as invited artists.

From 8 p.m., the parade awards ceremony and closing declaration will follow, concluding the Mask Festival with a closing performance by Jawoorim, Korea’s longest-running rock band.

The highlight of the Mask Festival is the ‘Mask Parade Competition’. About 40 teams dressed in traditional masks, creative masks, masks, and face painting will perform various street parade performances including dance, percussion, martial arts, and dance.

The competition is divided into three categories: local neighborhood and silver teams, children and youth, and general and university students. During the festival period, preliminary and final rounds will be held, with awards given in each category. The total prize money is about 50 million KRW.

Also, special parades celebrating the parade include the Army Academy Military Band’s special parade, the ‘Daekyung University Taekwondo Demonstration Team’ which won the grand prize at the 2022 Daegu Powerful Festival, and the ‘Cheonan Jumping Angels’, who achieved excellent results such as 1st place in Junior Pop Dance at the 2019 Asia Cup Cheerleading Competition, will perform as invited guests.

At the lawn yard located in front of Wow Shopping Mall, from 11:30 a.m. on the 8th, performances including Wheelers’ stunt show, bubble show, Korean traditional music, Madeul Nongyo (traditional farming songs), circus, and Namsadang tightrope walking will be held until 6 p.m., blending tradition and modernity. Especially, to promote regional cultural exchange, the Jeju Provincial Dance Company and Goheung Resident Art Troupe are specially invited to present performances.

On the 9th, starting at 11:30 a.m., performances by the Gypsy Jazz Factory Band, creative artist performances, and Sandae Nori (traditional Korean mask play) will be held. Notably, the first-ever resident participation program, the Mask Fashion Show, will be held from 2:30 p.m., where about 30 teams and 100 participants will showcase their unique masks and costumes on the runway in a competition.

To allow the whole family from children to youth to enjoy various experiences, experience booths such as mask decoration & face painting, writing mask family mottos, electric pottery wheel experience, making ceramic cups, pet plant and animal experiences, drone, VR/3D printer, digital drawing experiences, archery games, and metaverse escape rooms will be operated. Additionally, a special booth exhibiting traditional masks made by master Kim Ki-cheol, holder of Gyeonggi Province Intangible Cultural Property No. 52 Toegyewon Sandae Nori, will be installed.

Moreover, an art flea market featuring necklaces, candles, eco-bags, cookies, and more, directly produced by the Youth Market, will provide sights and entertainment. The experience and flea market will operate from 2 to 6 p.m. on the 8th and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the 9th.

A space dedicated to children, an indispensable part of the festival, is also prepared. Twenty experience booths including robot experience, police experience, mini mask making, neighborhood ball throwing, and transparent mask imagination experience will be operated, along with a large character photo zone. Play equipment such as air bounce, Viking ride, block play zone, and Thomas train will also be available.

During the festival, from midnight on October 8 to 4 a.m. on October 10, the Nohae-ro section (from Lotte Department Store to Full Gospel Church) will be fully closed. Buses stopping in the festival area (Nowon 05, 1167, 1132) will temporarily detour. Exact detour routes can be checked on the Nowon Mask Festival website.

District Mayor Oh Seung-rok said, “Nowon’s representative festival is being held for the first time in three years due to COVID-19,” and added, “We have prepared with our best efforts to relieve the thirst for festivals that have been held back and to provide comfort and vitality in life, so we hope everyone comes out and enjoys it.”

Geumcheon-gu (District Mayor Yoo Sung-hoon) announced that it will hold the ‘2022 Joint Reenactment of King Jeongjo’s Royal Procession’ from October 8 to 9 along Siheung-daero and the Siheung Haenggung area.

The Joint Reenactment of King Jeongjo’s Royal Procession is an event that recreates King Jeongjo’s journey to Suwon Hwaseong Fortress with his mother to pay respects at the tomb of his father, Crown Prince Sado.

This year’s event, held after three years, features the Siheung Haenggung section of King Jeongjo’s royal procession, which spans about 1.8 km from the Geumcheon-gu Office entrance intersection to Siheung Haenggung site, involving a grand street parade with 200 participants and 20 horses.

The procession will depart from the Geumcheon-gu Office entrance intersection around 4:50 p.m. on October 8, arrive at Siheung Intersection at 5 p.m., and reach the Siheung Haenggung event site around 5:20 p.m.

At about 5:05 p.m., when the procession arrives at Siheung Haenggung, a ‘Jeongjo Welcome Event’ will be held at Siheung Intersection, where the Siheung Governor and the local residents’ welcome committee will greet the royal procession.

Following this, at the Ginkgo Tree in Siheung 5-dong, the ‘Jeongjo’s Proclamation of Renaming’ will be enacted, where King Jeongjo orders the renaming of Geumcheon-hyeon to Siheung-hyeon, along with a ‘Grievance Appeal Drama’ where commoners beat drums and gongs to directly appeal their grievances to the king. Geumcheon-gu Mayor Yoo Sung-hoon will play the role of the Siheung Governor in the drama and propose solutions to the people’s questions.

At the Siheung Haenggung event site on the same day, from 1 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., various traditional performances by winners of the 2nd Jeongjo Welcome Gugak (Korean traditional music) Contest, Geumcheon residents’ performance groups, and professional performers will be held, along with a Golden Bell quiz show related to Geumcheon-gu’s history.

At the auxiliary event site, various experience booths linked to the Siheung Haenggung Exhibition Hall, opened in July, will operate, including ▲stamp tour ▲3D pen coloring of Bancha-do (a traditional Korean painting) ▲ginkgo tree dalgona candy picking ▲Siheung Haenggung block making ▲photo booth with four-cut stickers.

Notably, this year’s event features residents not just as spectators but as protagonists. For the first time, the four main roles of King Jeongjo’s royal procession?King Jeongjo, Lady Hyegyeong, Prince Cheongyeon, and Prince Cheongseon?are played by Geumcheon residents and Geumcheon-gu employees.

Also, in connection with the royal procession event, a joint market called ‘Dolbojang’ will be held at the Village Community Support Center, involving five organizations including Geumcheon Village Community Support Center, Seoul Youth Center Geumcheon Orang, Geumcheon Disabled Family Support Center, Social Economy Support Center, and Geumcheon Education Welfare Center. Agricultural products and eco-friendly goods will be sold, with proceeds donated to the Education Welfare Center.

On the morning of October 9, the second day of the festival, a farewell performance by Geumcheon-gu traditional cultural arts groups, a pre-event with large drums and court dance, and a performance declaring King Jeongjo’s departure from the palace will be held at the district office plaza. The royal procession will then depart for Suwon City, concluding the festival schedule in the Geumcheon section.

Now in its 5th year, the Joint Reenactment of King Jeongjo’s Royal Procession is Korea’s largest royal parade, sequentially reenacted by 2,739 participants and 345 horses over a total distance of 59 km, starting with the departure ceremony at Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul on October 8, passing through Siheung Haenggung, and ending at Hwaseong Haenggung and Yungneung (Crown Prince Sado’s tomb) in Hwaseong on October 9.

Geumcheon-gu Mayor Yoo Sung-hoon said, “In 2019, over 6,000 spectators visited to experience the traditional Joseon Dynasty ceremony from 200 years ago and enjoyed the festival,” adding, “We will do our best to establish the Joint Reenactment of King Jeongjo’s Royal Procession as a representative traditional festival by utilizing historical resources related to Siheung Haenggung and King Jeongjo.”

Seoul Wow Book Festival held last year

It is truly the season of clear skies and fat horses (Cheong-go-ma-bi). A book festival where you can immerse yourself in the scent of books on a clear autumn day will be held in Mapo-gu.

Mapo-gu (District Mayor Park Kang-soo) announced on the 4th that the ‘18th Seoul Wow Book Festival’ will be held for three days from the 7th to the 9th at the Seogyo Arts Experiment Center and Seoul Life Culture Center Seogyo, located in front of Hongdae.

Organized by the Wow Book Culture Arts Center and sponsored by Mapo-gu and others, the Seoul Wow Book Festival started in 2005 centered around publishing companies clustered around Hongdae, born from the question, ‘Is there a new way for the public to encounter books?’ This year marks its 18th edition.

Since 2006, Mapo-gu has been conducting support projects for the revival of local culture and arts, and the Seoul Wow Book Festival is a representative cultural festival of the Mapo area that has grown with the district’s support for over ten years.

This year’s event, themed ‘Asking the Way with Kindness,’ aims to create a hospitable space that offers comfort and empathy to those who are tired and struggling, showing the power of love and solidarity. Especially, most events including the book fair, which were suspended due to COVID-19, will be held face-to-face, providing opportunities to meet and enjoy various authors and books directly on site.

First, recently popular overseas authors will be invited online to meet domestic authors and readers. Andersen Award-winning author Marie-Aude Murail, Lee Su-ji, ‘Day Drinking’ author Harada Hikawa, web drama ‘Drunk City Women’ original author Mikang, and author Kim Hana will offer comforting moments to those enduring life.

The festival’s opening ceremony will feature performances by artists Kim Mok-in and Kim Sa-wol, followed by a warm talk session with kind philosopher Kim Man-kwon, kind historian Shim Yong-hwan, kind editor Park Hye-jin, and kind author Eun-yu.

In ‘Wow Special,’ which meets readers in various formats, there will be ‘Kindness and Poetry,’ listening to kind stories of poets seen in the emotions of their works, and ‘Kindness Survives,’ an online talk with author Brian Hare and neuroscientist Song Min-ryeong about humanity’s ‘kindness.’

In ‘Wow Fantastic Library,’ author Lim Yi-rang and translator Park San-ho will discuss the philosophical messages in Karel ?apek’s essay ‘The Gardener Who Raises Dogs and Cats,’ and author Jeong Bo-ra and translator Anton Hur, whose work ‘Cursed Bunny’ was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize, will share stories about the translation process and Booker Prize aftermath.

Additionally, the 10th anniversary cover design exhibition of Yuyu Publishing and an exhibition of picture book authors selected for the ‘Imagination Explosion Book Illustration Exhibition’ will be held. Detailed schedules for each program can be found on the Seoul Wow Book Festival website.

Jungnang-gu (District Mayor Ryu Kyung-gi) will hold the 2022 Yongma Waterfall Culture and Arts Festival at Yongma Waterfall Park, a local tourist attraction, from October 8 to 9.

The Yongma Waterfall Culture and Arts Festival, started in 2016, is a representative autumn festival of the area, attracting more than 30,000 visitors annually. The festival site, Yongma Waterfall Park, features the largest artificial waterfall in East Asia at 51.4 meters, the internationally certified artificial rock climbing wall of Jungnang Sports Climbing Stadium, and beautiful night lighting.

This year, the festival will be held face-to-face for the first time in three years. Under the theme ‘Your Star of Jungnang, Go on the Stage,’ it will be a festival where residents become the main characters, showcasing their talents and enjoying together.

A major feature of this festival is dividing the festival site into Yongma Waterfall Yard, Sharing Yard, Community Yard, Exhibition Yard, and Food Yard to enhance accessibility to festival programs and conduct various cultural and artistic programs in each yard.

On the 8th, at Yongma Waterfall Yard where the waterfall is located, the ‘Jungnang Talent Contest’ and ‘Jungnang Residents Award Ceremony’ will be held along with a performance by popular singer Ulala Session.

On the 9th, the play ‘Jungnang Drama Cha Jung-rak Song Festival,’ themed on Korea’s Elvis Presley, Cha Jung-rak, who is resting in Manguri Park, will be presented, featuring actors Ji Chun-sung and Kim Ji-won. Also, the ‘Yongma Waterfall Music Concert’ will offer a splendid and passionate autumn night stage with congratulatory performances by award-winning teams from various contests held in Jungnang-gu and singer Byul Sarang.

At Sharing Yard (Yongma Waterfall Park soccer field), programs showcasing local children’s talents such as a sharing market, sharing experience, Imagination Art Kids Show (magic show), and ‘Jungnang Love Children’s Song Love’ will be operated with the Jungnang Children’s Sharing Planning Group. An Imagination Art Kids Zone (air bounce, play experience) and a Safety Experience Festival (earthquake, fine dust, fire safety experiences, etc.) will also be prepared for children to play joyfully.

At Community Yard, Jungnang artists will perform romantic autumn busking in various genres, and booths for Jungnang-gu small and medium enterprises’ excellent products exhibition and Sangbong Workshop flea market can be found. Additionally, visitors can enjoy programs of the face-to-face festival held after a long time, including the Waterfall Gallery and rose and chrysanthemum photo zones in the Exhibition Yard, Waterfall Caf? and food trucks in the Food Yard, Yongma Waterfall Music Concert, and the Merry Jungnang Traveling Art Table Experience.

Jungnang-gu Mayor Ryu Kyung-gi said, “It is meaningful to hold the Yongma Waterfall Culture and Arts Festival, the representative autumn festival of the area, face-to-face after social distancing ended,” and added, “We look forward to many residents participating in this festival, which combines music and various experiences.”

Yeongdeungpo-gu (District Mayor Choi Ho-kwon) is holding the small business special exhibition ‘ASSEMBLE’ until October 15, showcasing an exhibition that combines ironworking technology and culture and arts in Mullae-dong.

Mullae-dong has been home to ironworks since the 1960s. The sound of hammering and cutting metal was familiar in the alleys of Mullae-dong, and since the 2000s, young artists have gathered here, transforming the area into a unique district where iron and art coexist.

The district is actively utilizing Mullae-dong’s distinctive infrastructure and is striving to promote cultural city projects. The small business special exhibition, now in its second year, is also part of the cultural city project.

This special exhibition aims to express the vivid scene of Mullae-dong’s machinery and metal manufacturing industry through art exhibitions to convey the local significance and value.

The exhibition title ‘ASSEMBLE,’ meaning ‘to gather and assemble,’ implies that the technologies and materials of Mullae-dong’s ironworks artisans have established a foundation here through organic relationships, acquiring and developing skills.

The exhibition consists of various machinery and metal products that showcase Mullae-dong’s technological prowess and artisan spirit, spatial displays, and video content capturing the stories of seven master craftsmen who pioneered the early ironworking complex, all through the perspective of local young artists.

The district expects this exhibition to be a place of cooperation between technology and art, where artisans, artists, and visitors living in Mullae-dong can empathize and communicate.

The small business special exhibition ‘ASSEMBLE’ will be held from October 1 to 15 at the Mullae Arts Complex Support Center (Sulsul Center), a cultural space combining art and technology, open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays.

For more details about the exhibition, contact the Yeongdeungpo Cultural Foundation or the district office’s Culture and Sports Division.

Yeongdeungpo-gu Mayor Choi Ho-kwon said, “Through this exhibition, we hope to widely promote the status of Mullae-dong’s ironworking technology, which has undergone long years of change and development, to boost the pride of small business owners and enhance the positive image of Mullae-dong where culture, arts, and technology coexist.”

Yeongdeungpo-gu was designated as Seoul’s first autonomous district cultural city at the end of last year and is making multifaceted efforts to create a premium cultural city where all residents participate.