Hwacheon ice fishing pageant attracts 1 mil. guests

Guests attend the 2025 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Pageant, one among Korea’s hottest winter occasions, in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, Jan. 18. Courtesy of Hwacheon County

The 2025 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Pageant, one among Korea’s hottest winter occasions, has welcomed over 1 million guests, in accordance with the occasion’s organizers Friday.

The pageant, which started on Jan. 11, takes place in Hwacheon, a distant mountain city in Gangwon Province, positioned 25 kilometers south of the inter-Korean border and about 90 km northeast of Seoul. The occasion is scheduled to run by means of Feb. 2.

Between its opening day and Friday afternoon, roughly 982,155 individuals visited the pageant, in accordance with Hwacheon county. An estimated extra 40,000 attendees are anticipated to affix all through the day.

Since its debut in 2003, the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Pageant has persistently attracted greater than 1 million guests nearly yearly, incomes world recognition.

This yr’s pageant reached the 1 million milestone a day sooner than in 2024.

The pageant has remodeled Hwacheon, a county with a inhabitants of simply 23,000, right into a famend winter vacation spot in Korea.

Regardless of challenges like unusually heat winters, heavy rain in 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought about cancellations in 2021 and 2022, the pageant has maintained its repute as a „million pageant“ for 16 years.

One key issue within the pageant’s success is its progressive strategy and fast adaptation to vary.

As an example, in 2016, it turned the primary winter pageant in Korea to introduce night time fishing, an unconventional concept that gained widespread consideration.

Along with its essential program — ice fishing for sancheoneo, a species of mountain trout — the pageant attracts guests with quite a lot of occasions and actions.

Each Saturday, the pageant includes a lantern road parade harking back to the energetic road performances at Canada’s Quebec Winter Carnival.

In the meantime, the Santa Put up Workplace, a well-liked attraction on the occasion, evokes the appeal of Santa Claus‘ village in Rovaniemi, Finland. (Yonhap)