Next August, the 'Daejeon Midnight Festival' to be Held... "Aiming for a Daejeon-style Edinburgh Festival"

Daejeon City will hold the ‘Daejeon 0 o’clock Festival’ again next year following this year.

On the 28th, Daejeon City announced that the ‘Daejeon 0 o’clock Festival’ will be held from August 9 to 17 next year along Jungang-ro and the old downtown commercial district between Daejeon Station and the former Chungnam Provincial Office.

This year’s 0 o’clock festival set a record for the largest number of visitors among single events since the 1993 Daejeon Expo, generating direct and indirect economic effects worth approximately 173.9 billion KRW. There were no safety accidents reported.

Citizens are enjoying the concert held on the special stage at the 'Daejeon Midnight Festival.' Provided by Daejeon City

The festival to be held next year will focus on supplementing the shortcomings identified during this year’s festival period and strengthening content competitiveness.

With the theme of a ‘time travel’ through Daejeon’s past, present, and future, the plan is to diversify content by era.

First, Daejeon City will add immersive experiences and retro performance content to the Past Zone, where visitors can encounter the city’s old appearance.

The Present Zone will feature performances led by local cultural artists held at various small theaters, galleries, and underground shopping malls in the old downtown area, with performance hours extended until 10 p.m.

The Future Zone will break away from the existing media art?focused viewing content and be organized as a family-oriented experiential space sharing Daejeon’s status as South Korea’s science capital and the fun of science and technology with citizens.

In addition to the time travel theme, Daejeon City plans to increase the number of street parades, which were held three times this year, and add content such as competitions to make next year’s festival more diverse.

In particular, next year, the entire family of Kkumdori-ne, reborn through the Daejeon Kkumssi Project, will participate to create a large-scale photo zone. The city also explained that it aims to showcase the essence of a ‘Daejeon-style Edinburgh Festival’ enjoyed by people worldwide through invited performances by overseas art groups and a global K-POP audition contest.

Preparations related to safety will also be strengthened. To prevent safety accidents when visitors temporarily crowd the festival site, the Jungang-ro stage will be rearranged radially, and facilities such as water play areas and shade truss structures to cool off the summer heat will be expanded to enhance viewing convenience.

Lee Jang-woo, Mayor of Daejeon, said, “We will supplement the shortcomings identified while conducting this year’s festival so that next year’s ‘Daejeon 0 o’clock Festival’ can establish itself as a representative summer festival in South Korea. We will make every effort to prepare the festival so that it revitalizes the local economy and helps Daejeon have an image full of fun and charm.”