The 11th Gangju Sunflower Festival will be held for 15 days from July 7 to 21 in the Gangju Village area of Beopsu-myeon, Haman-gun, Gyeongnam Province.
Organized by the Gangju Sunflower Festival Committee, this festival will feature 200,000 sunflower blooms planted over a total area of 37,000㎡, including the existing first and second planting sites in the Gangju Village area, which is surrounded like a folding screen by the foothills of Beopsusan Mountain.
To ensure a successful festival, village residents worked together to perform plastic mulching before sowing the seeds to prevent weeds and retain moisture, helping the sunflowers grow well.
Starting with the opening ceremony at 11 a.m. on July 7, the festival will offer various performances including Pumba shows, Hwacheon Nongak, Haman Nongyo, and busking. Side events include a direct sales market for agricultural and specialty products (household items, succulents, traditional sauces, etc.), food stalls, and a photo event at the first sunflower planting site, expected to attract much interest from visitors.
The festival admission fee is 2,000 KRW, but residents of Beopsu-myeon, persons with disabilities, preschool children, and seniors aged 70 and above can enter free of charge. The admission fees will be used for village environmental management and facility maintenance.
For visitors’ convenience, parking spaces will be secured, with three parking lots operated: Parking Lot 1 (1092-1 Gangju-ri, Beopsu-myeon), Parking Lot 2 (411 Gangju-ri, Beopsu-myeon), and Parking Lot 3 (3170 Hwangsa-ri, Beopsu-myeon).
Shuttle buses will also operate on July 8-9 and 15-16. The routes run between Gangju General Industrial Complex · Beopsu Middle School ↔ Gangju Sunflower Festival Site, and from the festival site to the third parking lot (317 Hwangsa-ri, Beopsu-myeon).
The Gangju Sunflower Festival was launched in 2013 by village residents joining forces to revive a declining small farming village. As a resident-led village festival, it aims to develop into a nationally renowned sunflower festival and secure sustainability for the village festival, contributing to increased farm income.
As a result, it became a model case of a successful resident-led village festival, winning the Prime Minister’s Award in the landscape and environment category at the 1st Happy Village Making Contest.
On social media platforms such as Instagram, posts verifying visits to the sunflower festival site can be easily found. To date, the festival has attracted over 690,000 visitors, gaining nationwide attention as a famous destination.
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