▲ Blessings from the mountains! A gift from the sea! 2024 Yangyang Songi Salmon Festival to be held

Yangyang-gun announced that the Yangyang Cultural Foundation will hold the "2024 Yangyang Songi Salmon Festival" for four days from October 3-6 at the banks of Namdaecheon in Yangyang-eup.

"The Yangyang Songi Salmon Festival, which is reborn as an ecological festival to thank Mother Nature, is a representative festival held every fall in Yangyang-gun, Gangwon-do, and this year, it will be transformed into an ecological festival centered on the appreciation of Mother Nature by adding special meaning," the county said. "As a platform to face the environment where nature and humans coexist under the theme of 'The Meeting of Seorak and Namdaecheon, Thank You Yangyang', various programs are prepared to reflect on the abundance that nature gives us through pine and salmon, which are representative natural products."

A new Namdaecheon Natural Ecology Program will be introduced, which focuses on the ecological value of the pine tree of snow and salmon in the Pacific Ocean, taking advantage of the existing program, which has presented various programs to feel the importance of nature together under the theme of local pride, pine tree and salmon.

The overall space composition also focuses on the creation of a pro-natural environment and cultural enjoyment from the sales center, and provides an opportunity for family visitors to learn the importance of ecology through experience activities with nature.

By preparing night light sculpture streets, night experience programs, and night performances, the festival hall will be filled until late at night, and the Namdaecheon Ecotourism Train will be expanded to Songi Park so that you can feel the clean natural scenery of Yangyang Namdaecheon.

Experience programs such as catching salmon bare hands, which were greatly loved by visitors every year, will be developed and maintained, and as the heat wave and drought prevented the pine mushroom collection experience, visitors will be greatly disappointed, so a new tasting corner has been set up where visitors can taste pine mushrooms by developing their own "Kocchi Hansong" menu.

Taking full advantage of the ecological characteristics of Yangyang Namdaecheon Stream, where the mountains and seas meet, the grass square will operate a new pine mushroom exhibition hall and a salmon making experience program, and try to increase the participation of festival participants by conducting a long jump competition using tree salmon that they made themselves.

In particular, this year, a light sculpture festival will be held in a 200m section centered on Namdaecheon Lawn Square, the county said. "Under the theme of 'The Light of Joy', more than 12 works by Korean light sculptors will be displayed, and we plan to show a special light sculpture depicting salmon using about 300 lights on the floor of Namdaecheon Stream."

In addition, he added that he planned an audience-participating exhibition as a message to welcome salmon back to Namdaecheon, the largest salmon return stream in Korea.

One by one, he crosses a river where salmon go back with warm hospitality for mysterious life, taking the warm yellow "hospitality Back" as his friend. Across the stepping stone bridge, he sees a moon jar dreaming with a wish heart and passes through the falling flower with a "wish Back." As he hangs on a wish tree depicting a whale's fountain, a work titled "Everyone's Dream" is completed, revealing the wishes of those gathered in Yangyang.

During the festival period, visitors can enjoy pine and salmon dishes, which can only be tasted in Yangyang. Local farmers and fishermen will also participate in the festival, and they can enjoy various cultural programs such as traditional performances, music, and art exhibitions, as well as various foods using local specialties, making it a festival that visitors of all ages as well as family units can enjoy. In particular, it is expected that the experience fee of various experience programs will be exchanged for gift certificates that can be used in the jurisdiction, which will benefit participants and local merchants and have a positive effect on revitalizing the local economy.

The opening ceremony, which will be held on Oct. 3, will start with the "Light of Joy" performance involving 150 Yangyang-gun residents, followed by a Daego performance, a Sky performance, a collaborative performance between a local choir and musical actor Seo Beom-seok, a fireworks display, Hong Ji-yoon and Kim Yeon-ja. Performances by local artists and various artists invited from home and abroad will create a unique atmosphere that harmonizes with nature.

October 4 is the day Yangyang Oil Market is held, and you can feel the atmosphere of a true traditional market, including the price tag written directly on paper and friendly merchants. The Yangyang Traditional Market Oil Market, which is introduced on several broadcasts and visited by celebrities on purpose, is a special feature that fills the rich autumn of Yangyang travel.

Performances that continue throughout the festival will provide visitors with constant pleasure. In particular, this festival has a variety of stages prepared so that there is no time without performances. The large stage for the opening ceremony will be demolished from the 2nd day and turned into a food truck zone and a fireworks performance stage.

The county set up a total of four auxiliary stages to fill the long festival venue, with street performances such as mime and bubble continuing every day at the grass square (songi stage), and more than 40 busking teams created a festival venue where music flows in various places, including a riverside stage, a water playground (salmon stage), and a market arcade, and planned a "small stage big singer" performance every evening.

Rather than having to look up high at the singer's stage, singers and audiences breathe naturally from a similar eye level like the calm Yangyang Namdaecheon, giving a greater resonance on a small stage.

"This festival will be a special time to feel and share gratitude for nature and the environment beyond just a food festival," said Choi Tae-seop, executive director of the Yangyang Cultural Foundation. "We have tried to grow Yangyang's daily life into a festival that has popularity and artistry by filling it with specialness, and we hope that all generations can enjoy the gifts of nature and participate in the 2024 Yangyang Songi Salmon Festival."