Gimhae City Cancels Gaya Cultural Festival Scheduled for April... Leaves Possibility Open for October Event

Gimhae City in Gyeongnam has canceled the Gaya Cultural Festival, the region's representative festival, scheduled for April. (Photo by Gimhae City)

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Sang-hyun] Gimhae City in Gyeongnam announced on the 17th that it will cancel the Gaya Culture Festival this year as well, following last year.

The city considered holding the festival online to overcome COVID-19 depression, ensure continuity of Gimhae's representative festival, and revitalize the stagnant local economy. However, due to ongoing chain infections caused by local infections such as family unit small gatherings, and with daily confirmed cases nationwide continuously recording in the 400s and showing signs of resurgence, the city decided to cancel the festival.

Prior to this, the city conducted an online survey and passed a resolution by the Gaya Culture Festival Committee to decide whether to hold the festival amid concerns about increased springtime movement and activities and the spread of variant viruses domestically.

In the survey conducted earlier this month targeting citizens, 66% of the approximately 3,000 respondents expressed negative opinions about holding the festival.

Although some citizens expressed regret over the festival not being held for two consecutive years, the city has left open the possibility of holding a hybrid online and offline festival around October after monitoring the COVID-19 situation, including vaccination progress.

A city official said, “It is unfortunate that the Gaya Culture Festival, held in line with the Garakguk Founder King’s Chunhyang Ceremony, has been canceled, but it was an unavoidable choice for the safety of citizens. We will do our best to prepare for a richer festival that will lead the brilliant Gaya culture in the future.”

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