▲ This file photo shows spectators in Gangneung. (Yonhap)

 

▲ This file photo shows full-blown cherry blossoms at the former Gangneung Cherry Blossom Festival. (Yonhap)

 

 

SEOUL, Mar. 10 (Yonhap) -- An iconic spring flower festival held in the city of Gangneung in Gangwon Province, which has been put on hold for years due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, will finally return in four years.

Gangneung City will hold the 2023 Gyeongpo Cherry Blossom Festival from Apr. 4 to 9 at Gyeongpodae and Gyeongpoho Lake, the city confirmed Friday.

The festival, which will resume for the first time in four years since 2019, will be held as the city’s first outdoor spring flower festival since the pandemic hit the country hard. The upcoming festival will be organized under the slogan “2023 Gyeongpo Colored with Cherry Blossoms,” where visitors will be able to enjoy a special experience of viewing the full-blown cherry blossoms scattered all over the ocean and lake.

The forthcoming spring festival will provide various attractions for visitors to escape from their restless daily lives and enjoy their time colored with colorful flowers around the Gyeongpo Wetland Square.

Meanwhile, illustrations with representative travel themes of the city that were created by local art groups will be displayed, along with cherry blossom postcards and poems with paintings of cherry blossoms. The spectators can also enjoy the unique experience of transcribing a poem on a cherry blossom-painted postcard.

The city will also be organizing diverse Korean folk games, including rice cake making and jegichagi, as well as craft experiences such as handwriting and French embroidery. The Festival will also serve as a venue for spectators of all ages to enjoy a tea ceremony, taste a cup of herbal tea, and get herbal scent treatment.

In particular, the city is scheduled to hold the “Cherry Blossoms Sports Day” at Wetland Square from Apr. 8 to 9 for spectators to enjoy their time with families. They will be able to participate in limbo and tug-of-war, as well as throw water balloons.

Cherry blossom busking performances will also be held by local musicians. In the meantime, the city plans to enrich the beauty of the Festival by installing night lights 4.6 kilometers away from Gyeongpo Intersection for visitors enjoying night walks.

Photo zones will be set up everywhere for them to leave memories. Those who share their own photos of cherry blossoms on their social spaces will also be able to print the photos that they took.

“We have organized diverse programs for citizens and visitors themselves to be colored with the cherry blossoms of Gyeongpo,” a city official said. “We hope you would come to visit our city, where the lake and sea coexist, and make unforgettably beautiful memories.”

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)

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