By Honorary Reporter Hallie Bradley from U.S.

Photo = Hallie Bradley

Reeds blow in the autumn winds at Sky Park in Seoul.

Across the country, festival organizers are struggling to handle the event fallout from COVID-19 and the cancellation of money-earning events nationwide. Many businesses in a given region depend on earnings from that peak event period to sustain them. 

In spring, most festivals around the country were canceled but autumn will see many events try to share Korean culture, history and new places in a different manner. The following are three of them.

Siheung Gaetgol Festival (Sept. 16-Oct. 30 / www.sgfestival.com)

Siheung Gaetgol Eco Park in Siheung, Gyeonggi-do Province, features the country's only inland beach along the shores of a river. Visitors can learn about traditional salt-making techniques, explore a clay playground, head up a beautiful and spiral wooden observation deck for bird watching, and see cosmos fields. 

Designated a national ocean wetland protection zone in February 2012, the park is the nature-rich venue of the annual Siheung Gaetgol Festival and the world’s largest ecological art playground. Programs on nature and art make for an educational and fun festival.

Online, the festival offers online campaigns like the Tidal Valley Green Campaign Series to promote eco-friendly things like shopping with vinyl, taking a tumbler instead of a plastic cup and eating a vegetarian meal. Those who upload a photo of the event to their SNS pages and tag them can win prizes from the festival's organizers. 

Many of the festival's interactive parts have participants posting online and using hashtags to make what everyone is doing visible. The festival combines art and play, with animal transformation art projects for children and live concerts to be showcased on the festival's official YouTube channel.

Jeonju Cultural Heritage Night Tour (Sept. 12-Oct. 17 / www.jeonjunight.com)

This event seeks to preserve and remember Korean heritage and the spirit of the nation's ancestors. The city of Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do Province, features many historical sites from the Joseon Dynasty and traditional culture. One of the stops is a popular tourist spot in the city, Jeonju Hanok Village, which is home to more than 800 traditional Hanok buildings.

Online, the tour features the event "Jeonday & Night VR," which highlights the city's cultural assets against the backdrop of the evening sky, as well as performances by cultural masters and other shows. Visitors can take a walk where the kings of the past did, and "zombies" will appear from the Imjin War in 1592. People can take part in this tour online and even win prizes.

Geumsan Insam Festival (Oct. 9-18 / www.insamfestival.co.kr/intro.html)

This annual festival is held at the domestic hub of ginseng production: Geumsan-gun County, Chungcheongnam-do Province. Growing in scale and turnout, the event in 1996 was designated a cultural tourism festival by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports in emerging as a national festival. Exhibitions and showcases of healing therapies using ginseng are featured along with performances.

Online, live performances will be accompanied by an online market so that customers based in Korea can buy this must-have healthy food. Participants from home can win prizes from the festival's organizers and join online discussions on promoting ginseng health therapy and wellness.

enny0611@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.