Originality and Local Participation Shine at Mokpo Port Festival and More
Jeollanam-do has selected ten city and county festivals as the '2025 Jeollanam-do Representative Festivals' to intensively foster outstanding local festivals and revitalize the regional economy.
The 2025 Jeollanam-do Representative Festivals were determined by combining the on-site evaluation scores (50%) conducted at the 2024 festival venues and the presentation evaluation scores (50%) from the Jeollanam-do Festival Review Committee.
The top festival was the Mokpo Port Festival, while the excellent festivals included the Goheung Yuja Festival, Jeongnamjin Jangheung Water Festival, and Jindo Mysterious Sea Road Festival. The promising festivals were the Suncheon Food and Art Festival, Gwangyang Maehwa Festival, Boseong Dahyangdae Festival, Haenam Minam Festival, Yeongam Wangin Culture Festival, and Hampyeong Korea Chrysanthemum Festival.
The Mokpo Port Festival, which began in 2006, is Korea's representative port festival centered on 'Pasi,' the region's unique maritime fish market culture. With a festival venue that reflects various eras, distinctive content, and unique programs exclusive to the Mokpo Port Festival, it was newly selected by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism last month as a '2024-2025 Culture and Tourism Festival.'
The Goheung Yuja Festival, selected as an excellent festival, received high marks for the fact that residents and local governments directly developed and organized the festival content, and for its significant contribution to promoting and industrializing yuja, the region's specialty product.
The Jeongnamjin Jangheung Water Festival was highly praised for its efforts to grow into a global festival attracting people from around the world through exchanges with Thailand's Songkran Festival, as well as for operating content with high satisfaction among the younger generation, such as the Global Water World and Global Water Battle Parade, which help cool off the midsummer heat.
The 45th Jindo Mysterious Sea Road Festival, held this year, was highly rated for its tourist participation programs, especially the nighttime sea road torch parade along the mysterious sea, which involves both local residents and tourists.
Jeollanam-do plans to support the ten selected representative festivals with a total of 200 million KRW, providing 50 million KRW for the top festival, 30 million KRW for excellent festivals, and 10 million KRW for promising festivals. The province also plans to enhance festival competitiveness through expert consulting and various promotional activities via the Jeonnam Tourism Platform (JN Tour).
Yoo Hyeonho, Director of the Jeollanam-do Tourism and Sports Bureau, said, "Festivals planned and operated with a sense of ownership by local residents have been selected as the province's representative festivals," and added, "We thank all the residents who worked hard to ensure the successful hosting of these festivals."
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