Yeongcheon City makes it a rule to host the Yeongcheon Herbal Medicine and Fruit Festival, Culture and Arts Festival, and the Bohyeon Mountain Starlight Festival, which is held at the Bohyeon Mountain Astronomical Museum every fall.

It is a "Star Festival of Stars" which will be held at the Yeongcheon Riverside Park where Yeongcheon City will turn to a place of festival as a whole with the theme of "Unified Yeongcheon with a festival became a Shining Star" from September 29 to October 2.

The Yeongcheon Chinese Medicine and Fruit Festival informs that Yeongcheon is the biggest market of Chinese herbal medicine and fruit and the oriental medicine special zone as well. In addition, the Culture and Arts Festival is organized by local artists in one place to provide various sights and enjoyment.

▲a hedysarum tie ⓒiijournal

The Seeing, Tasting and Enjoying Yeongcheon Herbal Medicine and Fruit Festival for your 5 Sense Satisfaction

The Yeongcheon Chinese Medicine Festival will operate a variety of programs at the Oriental Medicine Hall which is ambitiously prepared for herbalistic healing such as Oriental Medicine Sports Massage Experience, Herbal Mask Pack Experience, and Oriental Medicine Consultation and Diagnosis with Oriental Doctors. In addition, it will be focused on promoting life oriental medicine by operating Herbal Footbath, Herbal Kimchi Making, and Poeun Respect-for-Parents Medicinal Herbs.

Besides, a variety of attractions such as the Citizen Singing Festival and Song Festival and several booths will be installed to let the visitors enjoy shopping of Chuseok gift sets composed of red ginseng or herbal products, excellent local fruits, and ritual goods for the upcoming traditional holiday season, Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day).

Cultural and Arts Festival, a Rich Cultural Feast

Starting in 1974 and celebrating its 44th anniversary this year, the Yeongcheon Culture and Arts Festival will liven up the mood of the whole Yeongcheon area as a participatory culture and arts festival mixing various kinds of theme halls, exhibition events like painting exhibition and photo exhibition, experience events like crafts and traditional wedding, competition events like Pungmul and tug-of-war, and various kinds of performances with each other. The highlight of the Yeongcheon Culture and Arts Festival is the cultural brands of Yeongcheon, i. e. Reproduction of Joseon missions to Japan and Demonstration of Masangjae (martial art on a horse) which are unique events of Yeongcheon to take advantage of the history of Yeongcheon which used to be the base city of Joseon missions to Japan,

▲Bohyeon Mountain Starlight Festival, a Marvelous Science Experience with Stars

Bohyeon Mountain Starlight Festival, a Marvelous Science Experience with Stars

The Yeongcheon Bohyeon Mountain Starlight Festival, held at the Bohyeon Mountain Astronomical Museum, is expected to become a festival full of excitement by preparing a place of learning and competition through experiences as it is a professional science festival composed of rich infrastructures such as Astronomical Science Museum and Astronomy Exhibition & Experience Hall, exhibition experiences of theme halls, rocket launch experiences, constellation lectures, and Astronomical Space Science Camp for elementary school students. In particular, varied programs such as Star-watching while Lying and Municipal Representative Tourist Site Stamp Tour will be newly added to make this festival more meaningful.

Apart from the "Star Festival", if people visit the Yeongcheon Combat Memorial Park which opened in March and Bohyeon Mountain Dam Zip Wire which will open on September 20, Imgo Seowon, and Choi Museon Science Museum, they will be able to enjoy far much more impressive tour. Especially, a shuttle bus will reciprocate between the Yeongcheon Bus Terminal and the Yeongcheon Bohyeon Mountain Starlight Festival site every hour via major tourist sites including the Chinese Medicine and Fruit Festival site, the Yeongcheon Battle Memorial Park, and the Star & Star Arts Village to bring the visitors more comfortable sightseeing.

Yeongcheon City Mayor, Kim Young-seok said, "At the Yeongcheon Riverside Park will be held Chinese medicine, fruit, and culture and arts festivals, and at the Bohyeon Mountain Astronomical Science Museum will be held the Bohyeon Mountain Starlight Festival where people from different ages can enjoy themselves" and added "The most important thing for a festival is a 'voluntary and positive participation of visitors', and we newly planned oriental medicine related experience programs and all sorts of performances for this Star Festival of Stars and made a lot of efforts in expanding existing nearby infrastructures including the Bohyeon Mountain Astronomical Science Museum and the Bohyeon Mountain Astronomical & Exhibition Experience Hall in an attempt to improve the professionality of the Starlight Festival that is an uncommon astronomical science festival in Korea."

On the other hand, Yeongcheon City has an important astronomical observation asset of Korea as it is adjacent to international cities such as Pohang City, Gyeongju City, and Daegu Metropolitan City and the Bohyeon Mountain. In addition, in parallel with the continuous industrial development lately, Yeongcheon City is striving to nurture the aviation parts industry, and has been attracting foreign investment from various countries such as US, France, and Taiwan, for example, the Asian Part Base of Boeing.

여의봉 , 번역/이진  iij@iij.co.kr

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