The 1st Yangcheon Family Street Festival to be Held on April 27 Around Car-Free Sinjeongnegeori Station Area

Yangcheon-gu's First Local Representative Festival Held on a Six-Lane Road
Book Festival, Traditional Arts Festival, Residents' Singing Contest, and More

Yangcheon-gu, Seoul (District Mayor Lee Gi-jae) announced on the 25th that it will completely close a 600-meter section of Sinwol-ro, a six-lane road, near Sinjeongnegeori Station on October 27 and hold the ‘1st Yangcheon Family Street Festival,’ a representative local cultural and arts festival.

Until now, Yangcheon-gu mainly hosted cultural events centered on about ten large and small neighborhood-level village festivals, but there was no representative district festival that all residents could enjoy and take pride in together. Considering the area's characteristic as a residential-centered city, the district planned a street festival for all Yangcheon residents to unite on the last Sunday of October, focusing on three key themes: ‘family,’ ‘intergenerational empathy,’ and ‘street playground.’

The theme of this festival is ‘A Joyful Intergenerational Empathy Festival for Everyone,’ featuring zones for intergenerational empathy by era and a variety of programs that all generations can enjoy together.

The festival will open at 11 a.m. with the ‘Yangcheon Street Parade,’ involving about 400 participants including residents from 18 neighborhoods and a traditional military band. The main theme zones include ▲Yangcheon Meeting Plaza ▲Yangcheon Book Festival ▲Youth Street ▲70s and 80s Cultural Experience Street ▲50s and 60s Cultural Experience Street ▲Food Zone ▲Traditional Arts Festival ▲Resident Singing Contest, offering diverse generational experiences, attractions, and food spaces.

The car-free street will be equipped with artificial turf and bean bags to create resting areas, and a kids’ playground, brick art, and air sculptures will be installed so that family participants can enjoy comfortably. Notably, the ‘Asphalt Chalk Art’ event will transform the asphalt into a giant canvas, allowing free drawing to evoke childlike innocence and a sense of liberation. Passing through Yangcheon Meeting Plaza, the 80-meter-long ‘Yangcheon Book Festival’ zone offers a chance to savor the autumn atmosphere.

The main program, the intergenerational experience street, spans a total of 155 meters and is divided into three sections decorated with era-specific items: ▲Youth Street ▲70s and 80s Retro and Newtro Fusion ▲50s and 60s Cultural Experience Street.

‘Youth Street’ is a playground for the MZ generation and offers a unique experience for middle-aged participants. Reflecting the latest cultural trends of people in their 20s, it is designed as a new-concept pop-up zone combining performances and play, featuring ▲Reels and TikTok challenges ▲Bartender cocktail shows ▲Silent DJ parties ▲Aerial photo booths ▲Bubble magic shows, among others.

The ‘70s and 80s Cultural Experience Street’ is a themed street combining retro and newtro styles popular even among young people. Visitors can enjoy various nostalgic experiences such as ▲Making dalgona candy ▲Retro dance flash mobs ▲Yangcheon Elementary School, evoking memories of those times.

The ‘50s and 60s Cultural Experience Street’ is a playground that brings back nostalgia from the 1950s and 60s. Inside tents patterned like traditional tiled roofs, visitors can experience old-fashioned games and traditional culture such as ▲Circus ▲Nostalgia shops ▲Typewriter experience. Senior generations can revive past memories, while younger generations can enjoy new experiences.

Connected to the 50s and 60s Cultural Experience Street, the Yangcheon Food Zone recreates an old-style tavern setting, featuring about 20 food booths offering nostalgic snacks from different eras, from rice balls to pizza, and selected representative restaurants of Yangcheon. A district official stated, “We expect participation from Yangcheon’s representative restaurants to contribute to local and commercial district revitalization.”

Aerial view of Yangcheon Family Street Festival.

At the final section of the venue, a main stage with a capacity of 1,000 seats will host various cultural and artistic programs. From 2:30 p.m., the ‘Traditional Arts Festival’ hosted by the Yangcheon Cultural Center will feature high-quality performances by masters of Korean traditional music and dance. Following that, from 6 p.m., a singing contest with direct participation from residents and invited singer performances will take place.

To ensure smooth progress of the festival, the district will completely close the six-lane Sinwol-ro section from Sinjeongnegeori Station to Sinwol-ro 347 Intersection for a total of 30 hours from 10 p.m. on October 26 to 4 a.m. on October 28.

Residents wishing to participate in pre-registered festival programs such as ▲Street Parade (20 teams) ▲Chalk Art Performance (20 teams) ▲Food Zone (about 20 booths) ▲Singing Contest can apply through the Yangcheon Cultural Foundation website.

District Mayor Lee Gi-jae said, “This festival will be a new cultural festival created by the residents themselves, telling the unique stories of Yangcheon residents from start to finish,” and added, “I hope this festival will be a meaningful occasion for the Yangcheon community to come together as one big family, fostering communication and unity across generations.”