Festivals in and around Jeollanam-do, September 2010 edition.

Here are short profiles for seven festivals taking place in Jeollanam-do this month, as well as a few others close enough that I included to fill out an otherwise dull post. Fall is an excellent season for festival-going in Jeollanam-do and indeed in all of the country, but September is mainly full of smaller local festivals.


Gwangyang Gizzard Shad Festival (광양전어축제), September 3 - September 5
The English name isn't very appetizing, so it's probably better to refer to it as the Gwangyang Jeoneo Festival (광양전어축제), held a few kilometers east of City Hall in Chinwol-myeon. The 11th annual festival is centered around a regional specialty, a silver fish I ate numerous times---raw---at school dinners and functions. The city's English-language page says of the festival:

It is featured by sliced raw Jeoneo at Mangdeok port, corbicular soup, song of fishing Jeoneo, instrumental music of peasants and beautiful Seomjingang landscape.

Indeed. There are a number of Jeoneo festivals throughout the country, and Gwangyang's best-known festival is still a month away.


Gwangju Biennale (광주비엔날레), September 3 - November 7
The Gwangju Biennale (광주비엔날레) is the well-known biannual arts festival that gives Gwangju its reputation for being an artsy city, though it's debatable how fitting that really is. This year's Biennale is titled 10,000 Lives (만인보), "a sprawling investigation of the relationships that bind people to images and images to people." It's held at Biennale Park, accessible via city buses 64 and 83 (several others stop within a 10-minute walk). Other exhibits are at the Gwangju Museum of Art, Yangdong Market, and the Gwangju Folk Museum, located across the a small park from Biennale Hall. The official website has a little more information, or at least as much information as an art event's website will provide. It's perhaps the city's signature event and is worth a visit if you're into art and want to pay 14,000 won at the gate.


Imshil Cheese Festival (임실치즈페스티벌), September 4 - September 5
If your small town or county seat has a pizza place there's a good chance it's an Imshil, boasting cheese from Imshil county, North Jeolla province. This year's festival will be on September 4th and 5th at take place at the county's "cheese village."


KBS Mokpo Gayo Festival (목포가요축제), September 9
An amateur singing competition put on by the local KBS station, with registration from July 6th through August 5th. The competition will be held on a Thursday night at the Mokpo Culture & Arts Center (목포문화예술회관) in Yonghae-dong.


Jangsu Beef and Apple Festival (장수한우랑사과랑축제), September 10 - September 12
The official website covers it:

This festival focuses on the theme of Korean beef and apple, major farm staples in Jangsu.

The Jangsu Beef and Apple Festival (장수한우랑사과랑축제) takes place in North Jeolla's Jangsu county, and runs from September 10th through the 12th. The official site is entirely in Korean, but has a schedule on the main page and directs you to helpful information about and pictures of past festivals. It's held in Jangsu-eup, the county seat, accessible by buses from Gwangju six times a day.


Gokseong Cotton Plant Festival (명장목화축제), September 11 - September 12
Held in honor of cotton, no doubt "famous" in Gokseong. There's a timetable in Korean available on Gyeom-myeon's official page. Fireworks for eight minutes starting on Saturday at 10. County buses run to Gyeom-myeon from Ok-gwa, accessible in turn by buses from Gwangju and Suncheon.




Bulgapsan Sangsahwa Festival (불갑산상사화축제), September 17 - 19
The Bulgapsan Sangsahwa Festival (불갑산상사화축제) takes place in and around Yeonggwang county's notable Bulgapsa temple, and is in celebration of a flower considered significant in Buddhism and a symbol of unrequited love since the flowers and leaves never appear together:

1000 years bloom, 1000 years wither, the leaf never meets the flower, love without cause and effect, karma determines life and death.

That's from a Buddhist scripture quoted in a 2007 post by Light Enough to Travel still worth reading now.


Hadong Cosmos Festival (북천코스모스축제), September 17 - October 3
Hadong borders Jeollanam-do's Gwangyang to the east, and is a pleasant, rural county with very friendly locals. The festival takes place in Bukcheon-myeon, hence the Korean-language name, and this year there is information on the county's English-language page.

This is a festival to utilize the landscape of rural community and to nurture a tourism festival of experiencing the rural by connecting the preservation direct payment program on buckwheat and cosmos and is contributing great revitalization on raising the value of rural and the regional economy. Every year, the numbers of visitors visiting the fantastic fest of buckwheat and cosmos is increasing and have brought great effect of revitalizing the economy of neglected regions and culture the sense of community with the resident of the village and increased the confident on income increase.

Amazingly that makes less sense than what's written about the annual "Real Mullets Festival."


Hampyeong Kkotmureut Festival (함평꽃무릇축제), September 18 - 19
꽃무릇 is another name for 상사화, and this Hampyeong festival is held in honor of the same flower described a couple paragraphs above and blooming around Bulgupsa the same weekend. It takes place in Haebo-myeon, a township in the northeast corner of the county and accessible, as the small Korean-language profile says, by buses from the county seat.


Maryang Beautiful Harbor Festival (마량미항축제), September 19 - 21
If you won't be attending my wedding in Pittsburgh that Sunday you can go to the Maryang Beautiful Harbor Festival (마량미항축제) in Maryang-myeon, Gangjin county. I can't vouch for the excitement of the festival---here's a timetable in Korean---but Maryang is a scenic village on the tip of Gangjin, about a twenty-five minute bus ride from the county seat, and one of my favorite spots in the county.