Gokseong-gun Hosts Korea's Only Ice Cream Festival

Toran, Melon, Wasabi, Jenpi and More: Expect Ice Cream Flavors Beyond Imagination

Soap Bubble Sliding, EDM Performances and More to Cool Down the Hot Summer

[Gokseong=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Cha Jong-sun] Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do announced that it will hold the only ice cream festival in Korea from July 15 to 17 in the downtown area around the Gokseong Leisure Culture Center.

As an ice cream festival, visitors can fully enjoy a variety of unique and distinctive ice creams at the event.

Taro and melon ice creams are representative examples.

Taro is a representative specialty of Gokseong-gun, producing about 70% of the national output.

It raises curiosity about what taro, usually enjoyed as soup or stew, would taste like transformed into ice cream.

Melon is also a representative specialty of Gokseong-gun.

It is famous for its high sugar content, sweet aroma, and fresh texture that does not become mushy.

Gokseong melon is recognized as the highest quality in Korea, used even in popular menu items like melon bingsu at famous hotels and dessert brand Sulbing.

Gokseong melon reborn as ice cream makes you forget the hot summer momentarily.

Visitors can also taste unusual ice creams that are hard to imagine.

Currently, ice cream is being developed using wasabi cultivated in Gokseong.

The combination of wasabi’s sharp taste with ice cream arouses curiosity.

Ice cream made with jepi (Chopi) will also be introduced for the first time nationwide.

Jepi has a strong aroma and is often used as a spice or medicinal herb.

Its strong scent may feel unfamiliar at first, but once you get hooked, it has an irresistible charm.

A famous chef is participating in the development of jepi ice cream.

It is drawing attention whether it can create a strong fan base like mint chocolate ice cream, which gave birth to the “mint-choco faction.”

Many visitors are expected to take on the jepi ice cream eating challenge during the festival.

Besides these, visitors can freely enjoy various ice creams at the festival site, along with exciting experiences and performances.

At the Leisure Culture Center playground, cool activities such as soap bubble sliding contests, water slides, and water gun fights will be prepared for children and adults to enjoy together.

On this day, everyone can get soaked without any worries.

At night, an EDM party will shake both body and mind.

With melon drinks, bingsu, beer, and more, visitors can enjoy performances and passionately burn the midsummer night’s heat with a fiery event.

This festival was planned to overcome the summer tourism off-season and revitalize the local economy.

In Gokseong-gun, many tourists visit during the Rose Festival in May and the Children’s Grand Festival in October.

However, in summer, tourists sharply decrease as they prefer valleys and the sea.

Also, tourists visiting the Train Village pass through without going downtown, causing the town’s commercial district to decline.

To overcome this situation, Gokseong-gun and private organizations agreed to hold a downtown street festival, which resulted in the ice cream festival.

Therefore, this festival also has the meaning of a public-private collaborative festival planned and participated in by local merchants, residents’ autonomy committees, youth associations, and sports associations.

A county official said, “As the only festival in Korea featuring ice cream as its theme, we are preparing hard to provide visitors with memories, fun, and enjoyment, and we hope many people will spend a cool and thrilling summer in Gokseong.”

Gokseong=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Cha Jong-sun cha6960@asiae.co.kr

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