The Hometown of 'Aged Honggeo,' Naju City, Takes First Step in Renovating Yeongsanpo Honggeo Street

'Namdo Food Street Development' Public Facility Production and Installation Service Commencement

Food indispensable to festive tables in the southern provinces, the hometown of ‘fermented skate,’ Naju City in Jeollanam-do has taken the first step to revamp Yeongsanpo Skate Street into a premium food street representing the southern region.

According to Naju City on the 11th, this street, home to eight restaurants with a 600-year tradition of fermented skate known for its tingling, pungent taste and aroma, and ten skate vendors, will be transformed into a distinctive food street through the creation of a skate content cultural center, installation of representative sculptures, and production of signboards.

To this end, the city recently held a kickoff report meeting for the production and installation of public facilities to create the Yeongsanpo Skate Street area as a Namdo Food Street at the Ihwa Hall of the city hall.

The service provider, Public Design Research Institute Co., Ltd., presented the direction and plans for promoting the Namdo Food Street themed around skate at the meeting and gathered opinions from Mayor Yoon Byung-tae, related department heads, and district chiefs.

Yeongsanpo Skate Street was selected last year as a target site for the Namdo Food Street creation project hosted by Jeollanam-do.

The city plans to invest a total of 1 billion KRW, including 500 million KRW from the provincial government and 500 million KRW from the city, to complete the street’s renovation by the end of this year.

The city aims to revitalize the depressed Yeongsanpo commercial district by creating a pleasant and distinctive tourist landscape and improving the dining culture based on active cooperation with local merchants, using Skate Street as a starting point.

At the kickoff report meeting, major projects such as ‘creation of skate cultural center content,’ ‘installation of comprehensive storytelling guide signs and photo spots (photo zones),’ ‘installation of skate character sculptures,’ and ‘production of design signboards’ were announced.

Related departments including the Health Administration Division, Urban Division, Tourism Division, Job Economy Division, Yeongsanpo Development Planning Team, Yeongsan-dong, and Ichang-dong also offered various opinions for the successful promotion of the project.

Department heads suggested measures such as attracting younger customers considering the acquired taste of fermented skate, harmony with existing landscape designs, usability as a tourist resource, linkage and cooperation with merchant organizations, and the necessity of holding residents’ briefing sessions.

Mayor Yoon Byung-tae of Naju said, “Along with creating a landscape where people can appreciate skate not only by taste but also visually, the proactive and active participation of businesses is essential to provide pleasant and friendly restaurant services that make visitors want to return.”

He added, “It is necessary to develop substantial skate cultural center content that explains why fermented skate developed in Naju Yeongsanpo and how it came to be regarded as a representative dish of Jeolla Province.”

Naju = Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kim Yuk-bong baekok@asiae.co.kr