The Yesan Jangter Samguk Festival aims to become a multi-day tourism draw, offering food, market culture and hands-on programs rooted in the region's traditions.
The festival spotlights gukbap and noodles — Yesan's signature dishes — alongside chrysanthemums evoking the autumn season, with performances, competitions, food stalls and hands-on programs on offer throughout the run.
South Chungcheong Province Governor Park Soo-hyun attended the opening ceremony of the 10th Yesan Jangter Samguk Festival at Yesan Permanent Market on Thursday, congratulating organizers and expressing hope that the event would help local tourism and the regional economy grow together through Yesan's food and culture.
Now in its 10th year, the festival runs Thursday through Sunday.
This year's program includes "Samguk Bucket List," a visitor participation activity, as well as "Jeojatnori Pungnyu Era," a program drawing on market culture and the festival's three-kingdom theme, and "Samcook Festa," which features noodle dishes and locally grown produce — all designed to let visitors experience Yesan's food traditions and marketplace culture.
Local farms will sell produce at the market, a chrysanthemum exhibition will be on display, and a variety of performances will round out the program, giving visitors plenty to see and enjoy.
At the ceremony, Park said the festival's success was "a shortcut to making Yesan a place where people stay one more day," adding that healing the mind in a chrysanthemum field by day and seeing the market come alive with light at night "can stimulate Yesan's growth."
Park added that connecting Yedangho Lake and Deoksan Hot Springs into a single itinerary would allow festival-goers to naturally explore every corner of Yesan. He expressed hope that "the miracle of coexistence created by Yesan Market and the Samguk Festival will spread across the entire province."
Meanwhile, the province plans to expand infrastructure for extended-stay tourism by linking regional tourism resources, and to strengthen cooperation with cities and counties so that local festivals can drive visitor inflows and invigorate local economies.
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
