The 26th Hampyeong Butterfly Festival 'Fanfare'... Until the 6th of Next Month

Opening Event 'Nabi Nalligi', Performances by Park Jihyun and Jiwon

Gold 162kg & Silver 281kg 'Hwanggeumbat Award' Popular at Festival Venue

"Finding Butterflies in Hampyeong Go Go!"

The Hampyeong Butterfly Festival has grandly opened this year under the theme "A Hampyeong Trip in Search of Butterflies." Beautiful spring flowers and 250,000 butterflies flutter in colorful dances.

On the first day of the 26th festival, the 26th, the festival's curtain was raised with a butterfly release event commemorating the opening at the Butterfly and Insect Ecology Center inside Expo Park. The event will be held until the 6th of next month throughout Hampyeong-gun Expo Park.

On the 26th, the 'Butterfly Release' event commemorating the opening of the 26th Hampyeong Butterfly Festival.
[Photo by Kim Geonwan yacht@]

The butterfly festival opening ceremony held at 7 p.m. that day was attended by about 2,000 residents and tourists. The opening celebration featured dazzling performances by trot singer Park Ji-hyun and Ji-won.

The 'Hampyeong Butterfly Festival' is Korea's top spring festival and has been designated as an honorary cultural festival by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. This year's butterfly festival features 800,000 colorful flowers of 30 varieties including Mary Gold, and 250,000 butterflies and insects of 23 species such as the Korean Tortoiseshell and Cabbage White, all in one place.

Hampyeong Memory Workshop.
Photo by Kim Geonwan yacht@

There is also the newly introduced 'Hampyeong Memory Workshop.' It was newly built next to the Kumho Asiana Hall inside Expo Park, a two-story building with a total floor area of 2,223㎡. It is a space exhibiting relics of Hampyeong from the 1960s to 1980s, providing a unique experience by recreating and miniaturizing the actual lifestyle of Hampyeong at that time.

At the entrance space on the first floor of the exhibition hall stands the Golden Bat statue, which recently attracted attention due to the rise in gold prices. The Golden Bat statue was produced as a tourism product by the county in 2008 at a cost of 3 billion won. Its size is 1.5 m wide and 2.1 m high. It is a famous symbol of Hampyeong made of 162 kg of gold and 281 kg of silver.

The 'Golden Bat statue,' which was moved to the festival site and only temporarily displayed during the spring and autumn festival seasons every year, has been relocated to the Hampyeong Memory Workshop and is now open daily.

Golden bat statue exhibited at the Memory Workshop in Expo Park, Hampyeong-gun, Jeollanam-do.
[Photo by Hampyeong-gun]

Lee Sang-ik, the mayor of Hampyeong-gun, said, "This year's Hampyeong Butterfly Festival has prepared abundant programs for families to offer healing and happiness," and added, "We ask for the great interest and support of tourists nationwide."