"‘Sedae Gonggam Pam Party’ Theme Event Held for 3 Days Until the 29th
Diverse Activities Including Mandu Cooking Contest and Sharing 111.1m Three-Color Garaetteok"
The 2024 Wonju Samto Festival, hosted by Wonju City, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province (Mayor Won Gang-su) and the Korea Rural Leaders Wonju Federation (President Kim In-sik), will be held for three days from today (27th) to the 29th at the Wonju Sports Complex under the theme "Generational Empathy! Enjoying a Farm Party in Wonju!"
Samto (三土) means "People are born from the soil, live on the soil, and return to the soil." The first commemorative event was held in Wonju on November 11, 1964. Following this, since 1996, November 11 has been designated as the legal holiday "Farmers' Day." In Wonju, the birthplace of Farmers' Day, the event evolved into the Samto Cultural Festival and, since 2018, has been renamed and rescheduled as the Samto Festival.
The 2024 Wonju Samto Festival is promoted based on four goals: ▲a festival where people of all ages can participate together ▲a festival to inherit traditional culture through participatory programs such as traditional games ▲a festival of urban-rural coexistence through local food ▲a festival to boost farmers' pride and understand the future of agriculture and rural areas.
The opening ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. on the 27th with a calligraphy performance. Along with this, the "Urban-Rural Coexistence Wonju" will be proclaimed, and the joyful festival will begin for three days until the 29th.
This festival especially prepares various competitions involving multiple generations, including the National Youth Nongak (traditional Korean percussion music) Contest, the National Family Wonju Dumpling Cooking Contest, scarecrow making, Samto singing contest, 4-H competition, turning the traditional grain mill, Toto-mi! Seed collection of love, and lifestyle club contests. Prizes will be awarded to outstanding participants.
Additionally, various experiential programs will be conducted to understand, inherit, develop, and share agricultural and rural traditional culture, such as sharing rice cooked in a cauldron, sharing 111.1m of three-colored Garaetteok (rice cake), traditional performances including tightrope walking, rice cake pounding experience and sharing, straw craft experience, traditional game experiences, and prizes will be provided.
Moreover, to commemorate Wonju as the birthplace of Saengmyeong Nonghyup (Life Agricultural Cooperative) and Farmers' Day, there will be an urban-rural coexistence proclamation ceremony, calligraphy performance, promotion and sale of agricultural and specialty products, a farm market, affordable agricultural product auctions, local foods, and representative dishes. Various agricultural organizations will participate to promote and sell excellent agricultural products from Wonju.
Kim In-sik, President of the Korea Rural Leaders Wonju Federation, said, "We ask for the citizens' great interest and participation so that this year's Samto Festival can grow into a festival where various generations come together, farmers unite, and rural and urban areas exchange and coexist."
Won Gang-su, Mayor of Wonju City, also stated, "The Wonju Samto Festival is a participatory festival with citizens themed on agriculture, and we are striving to establish it as a representative nationwide participatory agricultural and rural culture festival."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
