Original K-Culture Unveiled... Andong City Hosts the '50th Chajeonjanggun Nogukgongju Festival'

Regional Folk Content Thematization, Expansion, and Trendy Reorganization

Branding Korea's Representative Folk City, Showcasing to Tourists

Linked with Children's Day and Parents' Day Events, Whole Family Participation

The ‘Chajeon General Noguk Princess Festival,’ transformed into Andong’s representative spring festival, will be held for five days from the 4th to the 8th in Andong’s original downtown area (from Kyobo Life Insurance to Haengun Car Wash), Woongbu Park, and Culture Park.

The 50th Chajeonjanggun Noguk Princess Festival, a Citizens' Harmony Event.

The city plans to rebrand Andong as South Korea’s representative folk city by thematizing, enlarging, and hiply reorganizing folk content.

This festival will be held as a program that the whole family can participate in, linked with Children’s Day and Parents’ Day events during the festival period.

In particular, centered around the male group play Chajeon Nori and the female group play Notdari Balgi, various folk events will be held, including intangible cultural heritage performances, pungmul competitions, large-scale invited performances, folk experiences, exhibitions and sales of agricultural and specialty products, the Andong Arts Festival, busking, and children’s rides.

The first day of the festival (May 4) is composed of ‘Challenge! Large-scale Chajeon Nori.’

Starting with the Seonghwangje ritual that reveals the origin of the festival, followed by the Confucian ritual Seoje, the memorial offering to King Gongmin, the invited performance Dongchun Circus, Andong Notdari Balgi, the Citizens’ Harmony Festival & Chajeon Group Play Competition, and from 6:30 PM, the opening ceremony of the 50th Chajeon General Noguk Princess Festival will take place.

The second day (May 5) has the theme ‘Meeting Noguk Princess and Children,’ with the main stage hosting the Noguk Princess Selection Contest. The selected Noguk Princess will perform as the princess during the Andong Notdari Balgi performance and will also receive a scholarship.

The third day (May 6) unfolds under the theme ‘The Spirit of Chajeon General.’

On stage, there will be the Hahoe Byeolsingut Talnori, traditional wedding reenactment & wedding procession reproduction, sister city performance Icheon Turtle Play, and at 3 PM, the regular performance of Andong Chajeon Nori. From 4:30 PM, the 13th Andong Dialect Contest will be held.

The fourth day (May 7) is themed ‘Andong Isider,’ featuring a Korean traditional music festival, sister city performances including Gwan-no Mask Play, Songpa Sandae Nori, Andong Jebiwon Seongju Puri, Andong Sangyeo Sori, regular performances of Andong Notdari Balgi, Citizens’ Harmony Festival & Chajeon Group Play, and a New Spring Music Concert.

The theme of the last day of the festival (May 8) is ‘Our Mother and Father.’

On stage, starting with a Pumba performance, from 12 PM the Silver Song Festival will be held. Six teams will be selected, and the grand prize winner will receive a prize of 500,000 won.

Following this, Jeojeon-dong Nongyo, Andong Notdari Balgi, Citizens’ Harmony Festival & Chajeon Group Play will proceed, and the event will conclude with the Citizens’ Harmony Festival awards ceremony and closing ceremony.

Along one side of the festival’s six-lane road, a flea market is also prepared. It will feature 15 types including experiences, food, and accessories, with resting areas provided intermittently for relaxation.

On the Andong Pan Street (Modi 684 to Haengun Car Wash), a corner for Andong specialty products has been set up.

Divided into four zones, the agricultural and specialty products promotion hall, hemp seed promotion hall, local food promotion hall, Andong traditional liquor promotion hall, and Andong Hanwoo Festival will operate for five days from 10 AM to 9 PM.

At the Folk Square (Modi 684 Square), children’s play facilities (Viking, Tagadis Disco, etc.) and a folk bar will operate, and on May 6, the Gyeongbuk Province Hwajeon Nori Competition will be held at Geumseong paid parking lot.

On Andong Pub Street (Food Street, part of Jungang-ro), outdoor tents and food booths, social enterprise exhibitions, traditional crafts, Andongpo and loom experiences, small business sales, and wish hanging will be operated.

Information and Promotional Pamphlet.

For the convenience of tourists’ parking, the city operates the parking lot behind the old Andong Station (accessible via Gangbyeon Neulpureun Town Apartment), Woongbu Park public parking lot (Yeongga-ro, Andong City), and Jungang Culture Street public parking lot (Eumsik-gil, Andong City), among others.

Kwon Seok-hwan, director of the Andong Cultural Center, said, “The newly advancing ‘50th Chajeon General Noguk Princess Festival’ signifies the opening of Andong’s four-season festivals. Starting with this festival, we hope to newly discover and enhance the quality of local unique content and provide an opportunity to widely promote and showcase the strength and value of Andong culture.”

Mayor Kwon Ki-chang said, “Through this festival, we will present unique and fresh content containing the essence of folk culture that is exclusive to Andong to domestic and international tourists. Furthermore, we will ensure that the excitement and joy of the festival spread not only to citizens and tourists but also to every corner of the city, leading to economic ripple effects.”

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