Sokcho Chrysanthemum Exhibition: 40 Days of Chrysanthemum Splendor
with a Theme of "Love"
Integrated Festivals Combining 60 Years of History and Gastronomy:
Seorak Cultural Festival, Gourmet Week, and More
Sokcho City in Gangwon Province is captivating tourists this October, the season of late autumn, by launching a month-long series of vibrant festivals and cultural events, beginning with the "2025 Sokcho Chrysanthemum Exhibition."
Sokcho City will hold the "2025 Sokcho Chrysanthemum Exhibition" for 40 days from October 20 to November 30 at the Cheongchoho Amusement Park Fountain Plaza. Featuring chrysanthemum artworks themed around love and landscape lighting, the event will showcase the beauty of autumn in Sokcho-filled with flowers by day and illuminated by lights at night.
For this exhibition, the city has produced and managed 100,000 chrysanthemum plants at its municipal flower nursery since May. Since October 9, the city has been preparing flower beds, installing chrysanthemum artworks, planting, and setting up nighttime landscape lighting. The event will open with a lantern lighting ceremony at 6:30 p.m. on October 20. On-site, visitors can enjoy a chrysanthemum tea tasting, poetry recitation by Pulieum, and performances by tenor Tae Wooseok and soprano Lee Juae.
The first 200 citizens and tourists to attend the lighting ceremony will receive chrysanthemums sponsored by the Yangyang Sokcho Forestry Cooperative. The venue features nine photo zones using chrysanthemum artworks, offering different charms during the day and at night.
Lee Byungseon, Mayor of Sokcho, stated, "This chrysanthemum exhibition will be a festival where both citizens and tourists can come together at the lively and beautiful Cheongchoho Amusement Park. We will do our utmost to ensure that the Chrysanthemum Exhibition, as well as the upcoming Seorak Cultural Festival, Masupda Sokcho, and Gourmet Week, are held successfully."
With the opening of the Chrysanthemum Exhibition, various autumn festivals will take place throughout Sokcho.
The Seorak Cultural Festival, celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, will be held under the theme "60 Years of Seorak, Becoming the Story of Sokcho" from October 24 to 26 at the Expo Lawn Plaza and Seorak Rodeo Street.
In particular, Rodeo Street will host a city-centered festival for coexistence, where citizens and merchants come together for street parades, fringe performances, experience booths, and the "Local Business Support Event," establishing a virtuous cycle between the festival and local economic revitalization. Stages by international art troupes from Malaysia, Mongolia, and Vietnam, as well as drone and fireworks shows, will further enrich the festivities.
During the same period, the "2025 Sokcho Food Festival (Masupda, Sokcho)" will take place at the Expo Symbolic Tower Plaza. This eco-friendly festival, where visitors can experience Sokcho's signature dishes in one place, will once again feature ESG campaigns such as the use of reusable containers. Various performances will be held at the venue, adding to the enjoyment of the culinary delights.
From October 21 to 27, "2025 Sokcho Gourmet Week" will be held citywide. As a gastronomic city branding project that fuses Sokcho's food culture, tourism, and the arts, the event will feature large-scale domestic and international gourmet programs, including the Global Gourmet Forum, Sokcho International Food Film Festival (SIFFF), gourmet tours and gourmet roads, Synergy Week, and Sokcho Gourmet Dining.
SIFFF will expand its venues to Sokcho Beach and Centum Mark and extend the duration to four days. The festival will open with a ceremony combining a cinema concert and Spanish cuisine, followed by screenings of "The True Colors of Food," a "Mukbogwan" theater where audiences can watch movies while eating, interactive "Delicious Talk" sessions, and both international and Korean short film competitions.
Additionally, to mark its 20th anniversary, the Sokcho City Museum will hold the "Ink Landscape Exhibition" showcasing donated works by the late artist Park Chungeun (pen name Wolha) until December 31. Of the 65 pieces donated to the museum in 2024, 34 have been selected for this public exhibition, with one rotation of works planned during the exhibition period. This is a rare opportunity for citizens and tourists to experience the world of true-view ink landscape painting by an artist who devoted his life to the study and creation of Korean painting.
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