Gwangyang Maehwa Festival, Preparations in Full Swing

Unique Content of Gwangyang Maehwa Festival

City - Full Effort to Ensure a Safe Festival Venue

With the 23rd Gwangyang Maehwa Festival, which will bring a special spring to the Republic of Korea, just one month away, Gwangyang City in Jeollanam-do announced that it has begun checking the progress of preparations to create a differentiated festival venue that cannot be experienced anywhere else.

On the 8th, Gwangyang City held a meeting in the city hall situation room attended by about 30 department heads including Mayor Jeong In-hwa, where they shared detailed implementation plans and department-specific progress and discussed measures for administrative support.

[Photo by Gwangyang-si]

Marking its 23rd year, the Gwangyang Maehwa Festival will be held from March 8 to 17 under the theme “Gwangyang Maehwa, Embracing K-Culture / The Prelude to Spring: Maehwa,” welcoming citizens and tourists for ten days with fresh and differentiated content that can only be enjoyed at the Gwangyang Maehwa Festival.

Through collaboration among the four local governments of Maenan, Gukjuk, and Juk, the festival aims to establish its identity and status as Korea’s first representative spring festival, evolving beyond a scenery-focused event into a cultural tourism festival with unique experiences and culture.

For the first time since its inception, an admission fee will be introduced, but it will be fully refunded in local gift certificates, allowing tourists to enjoy the festival without burden while revitalizing the local community, aiming for a win-win and sustainable festival.

Under a comprehensive traffic plan, efforts will be intensified to create a safe and pleasant festival venue that everyone can enjoy, including expanding shuttle bus routes, implementing car-free streets, and operating transportation for the mobility-impaired.

In particular, killer contents exclusive to the Gwangyang Maehwa Festival will be introduced in large numbers, such as 1-night 2-day (or 2-night 3-day) stay programs, plum highball experiences, traditional sleeve maehwa end-dong, and barefoot walking along the Seomjin River.

Programs that satisfy all five senses, led by local residents such as “Taste of Gwangyang” and “Gwangyang Plum Lunchbox,” will be operated to strengthen residents’ participation and capabilities and solidify the status of the plum’s hometown.

Various programs such as the popular Golden Maehwa and Plum GET events from last year, the festival concept Seocheon and Madong music fountains, and “How about Gwangyang today?” to attract individual tourists will expand the festival’s ripple effects throughout the city and create synergy.

ESG programs practicing carbon neutrality, a global issue, such as “Please Bring Your Own Container” to realize a festival without disposable products, and rental services for wheelchairs and strollers for tourism accessibility will be strengthened to accommodate everyone.

The city will focus administrative efforts on creating a pleasant and enjoyable festival environment by emphasizing visitor safety, providing real-time traffic information, installing additional restrooms, and strengthening crackdowns on illegal street vendors and night markets.

Above all, to enhance safety and minimize traffic congestion, a comprehensive safety management headquarters will be operated in cooperation with related organizations and private groups, and additional safety management personnel will be deployed to ensure smooth traffic.

[Photo by Gwangyang City]

Additionally, comprehensive publicity will be carried out through various online and offline channels such as media promotions, Gwangyang City and Gwangyang Tourism official SNS, continuously exposing blooming status and events.

Mayor Jeong In-hwa of Gwangyang said, “As the Gwangyang Maehwa Festival is a special festival that opens the prelude to spring in Korea, I ask everyone to do their best so that it can be recognized as a distinguished and high-quality festival praised by citizens based on differentiated content and voluntary participation of local residents, and to be acknowledged as a representative festival of Korea beyond a provincial festival.”

He added, “Please exert collective intelligence and administrative power to prepare a pleasant and safe festival environment and tourism accommodation system by thoroughly checking safety, traffic, emergency medical support, and running detailed simulations of tourist routes, restrooms, and waste disposal sites to minimize the gap between plans and reality.”

Meanwhile, Gwangyang City plans to hold a second progress report meeting on the 23rd and a final report meeting on the 5th of next month to check for any deficiencies and provide thorough and meticulous administrative support for the successful hosting of the 23rd Gwangyang Maehwa Festival.

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik hss79@asiae.co.kr