Gokseong-gun Cancels 'Simcheong Children's Festival' Due to COVID-19 Impact

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do announced on the 16th that the Gokseong Simcheong Children's Grand Festival, scheduled to be held in October, has been canceled due to the spread of COVID-19.

Gokseong-gun is known as the birthplace of the Gwaneumsa Yeongi legend, the origin story of Simcheongjeon, and has held the Simcheong Festival every autumn, developing it into a representative local festival.

In particular, this year marked the 20th anniversary, and preparations were underway to transform it into a new children- and family-centered festival called the Simcheong Children's Grand Festival.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic that began early this year continued to hamper these plans. Gokseong-gun had already canceled the Gokseong World Rose Festival in May.

The cancellation of the Gokseong Rose Festival caused significant losses to the commercial district near the festival site, Gokseong Train Village. The county had been monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely with the intention of holding the Simcheong Children's Festival to help the local economy recover.

Nevertheless, with the ongoing threat of COVID-19 and the festival date approaching, a decision could no longer be postponed.

Accordingly, on the 14th, the Gokseong Simcheong Festival Promotion Committee decided through a written review to cancel the festival that was scheduled to be held from the 9th to the 18th of next month.

A festival committee official stated, “COVID-19 cases have been fluctuating, and domestic and international infectious disease experts continue to warn of a possible major outbreak in the fall. Although regrettable, the festival has been canceled this year.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.