HWACHEON: The esteemed Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival is set to begin this Saturday in the northeastern mountain town of Hwacheon, located in Gangwon Province. The festival, which celebrates the local species of trout known as sancheoneo, will run for 23 days until January 28. Hwacheon, a small town with a population of 24,000, is poised to transform into a bustling festival city, attracting over 1 million visitors.
According to Yonhap News Agency, this year's event will feature the release of 160 tons of sancheoneo into a 61,654 square meter frozen river. The festival, launched in 2003, has been recognized as South Korea's best festival by the culture ministry in 2010 and has consistently drawn over a million visitors annually since 2006. Activities such as bare-hand fishing, sledding, and ice soccer have garnered global attention, and the festival was once highlighted as one of the world's seven wonders of winter by a leading news organization. Last year's festival, following a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, attracted 1.31 million visitors. Hwacheon, historically significant as a battleground during the Korean War, now relies on this festival as a crucial economic driver, generating over 100 billion won annually.