Gangbuk-gu 'Uicheon Streamside Festa 2024' Held

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Gangbuk-gu, Seoul (Mayor Lee Soon-hee) will hold the ‘Uicheon Riverside Festa 2024: Wise Uicheon Living’ featuring the characters ‘Cheolsu and Yeongi’ along the Uicheon Riverside from May 24 to 26 in celebration of Family Month.

The ‘Uicheon Riverside Festa’ is a participatory cultural tourism festival where citizens can enjoy Gangbuk-gu’s unique art, culture, and commercial districts along the popular Uicheon Riverside. The first festival, held last April under the slogan ‘Uicheon in Bloom,’ transformed the everyday space of Uicheon into a festival venue filled with various performances and experiences, attracting over 13,000 visitors over three days.

This year’s ‘Uicheon Riverside Festa 2024’ is planned as a cross-generational empathy festival combining Gangbuk-gu’s local characteristics with creative cultural and artistic programs under a retro concept, offering nostalgia to the older generation and new experiences to the MZ generation.

In particular, the district adopted the original illustrations of Cheolsu and Yeongi, created by the late artist Kim Tae-hyung, whose eldest son has a long-standing connection with Gangbuk-gu, as the festival design. The festival space is uniquely designed to resemble an old elementary school, featuring retro branding designs, nostalgic entertainment programs from that era, and a Cheolsu and Yeongi photo zone, allowing visitors to enjoy and create joyful memories with retro vibes.

Additionally, 35 local cultural artists from Gangbuk will participate, operating various experience programs such as ‘Omangaji Experience Classes,’ ‘Artisan Hand-Stitched Stationery,’ and ‘Local Gourmet Snack Stalls’ to enhance visitor satisfaction by offering opportunities to find and enjoy personal tastes and fun.

The festival opening ceremony will be held on the 24th at 7 PM at the Beonchanggyo Trick Art Zone with a school entrance ceremony concept. The ‘Bandal Children’s Song Choir,’ a senior chorus group continuing the legacy of the late Yoon Geuk-young, composer of Korea’s first children’s song ‘Bandal’ inspired by the blue sky and Milky Way, and the Gangbuk-gu Boys and Girls Choir will present a generational unity choir performance.

The official opening event will feature hosts dressed as Cheolsu and Yeongi, along with performances evoking retro sentiments. The celebratory performances will heat up the stage with the Kim Chang-wan Band and singer Hong Isak.

On the 25th and 26th, from 2 PM to 8 PM, local artists will perform on the special stage at Beonchanggyo. Visitors can enjoy a variety of performances by time slot, including ‘Don’t Report It,’ a rearrangement of 70s and 80s Korean pop songs, ‘Ona Haegum,’ a haegum (Korean fiddle) performance of 70s and 80s classics, and ‘Busking with Time,’ a K-POP random play dance involving the audience.

From 4 PM on the 25th, a cheerful sports day will be held at the Beonchanggyo Trick Art Zone. Participants will be divided into blue and white teams on-site to compete in OX quizzes, board flipping, and balloon popping. On the 26th, a Golden Bell quiz will continue, where participants sit on nostalgic school desks and answer questions posed by the host against a classroom stage backdrop.

At the ‘Omangaji Experience Classes’ with Gangbuk’s workshop artists, visitors can try plate painting keyrings, parts jewelry box making, fresh flower calligraphy frames, and black rubber shoe pouches. At the ‘Artisan Hand-Stitched Stationery,’ visitors can purchase workshop creations such as wire doll keyrings, retro camping candles, fried chicken magnets, and crocheted flower bouquets.

The ‘Generational Empathy Arcade,’ gathering nostalgic arcade games in one place, is also highly anticipated. Visitors can enjoy games like Galaga, Breakout, Street Fighter, Pac-Man, as well as board games like Snake Dice and Around the World, and play traditional childhood games such as hopscotch, rubber band jumping, large paper card flipping, spinning tops, and jegichagi (Korean shuttlecock kicking), evoking joyful childhood memories.

At the ‘Back in the Day Photo Zone’ set up under Uije 2nd Bridge, visitors can become Cheolsu and Yeongi themselves. There are also vintage school uniforms for children, allowing all generations to wear school uniforms and take fun photos together, creating enjoyable memories.

Additionally, along the ‘Cheolsu and Yeongi Wall Path’ between Uije 2nd and 3rd Bridges, visitors can admire 18 murals using original Cheolsu and Yeongi illustrations by artist Kim Tae-hyung.

At the local gourmet snack stall under Beonchanggyo, Gangbuk’s popular snack shops will offer a variety of delicious foods that delight both the eyes and palate, including Cheolsu-Yeongi lunch boxes, vegan cream bread, old-fashioned shaved ice cakes, Oranda (Dutch candy), slushies, corn bread, and octopus butter grill.

Detailed information about ‘Uicheon Riverside Festa 2024: Wise Uicheon Living’ can be found on the Gangbuk-gu Office website and Instagram.

Meanwhile, since last year, the district has been continuing various events such as the Uicheon Riverside Festa, Yeoul Market, and beer festivals along the Uicheon Riverside to promote local economic tourism and revitalize commercial districts through performances, exhibitions, and markets.

Lee Soon-hee, Mayor of Gangbuk-gu, said, “Uicheon is a representative tourist resource of Gangbuk-gu, favored not only by residents but also many tourists due to its beautiful natural environment, attractive surrounding commercial districts, and convenient accessibility. We hope everyone experiences the wise Uicheon living by sharing warm family memories with Cheolsu and Yeongi at the Uicheon Riverside Festa 2024.”