Uiryeong Buckwheat Noodles (Soba), How About the 'When the Buckwheat Flowers Bloom' Festival?

'Aligned' with Specialized Projects Utilizing Regional Characteristics

An idea to hold a festival promoting Uiryeong buckwheat noodles (soba), a local specialty food representing Uiryeong, Gyeongnam, has attracted attention.

The festival name, ‘When the Uiryeong Buckwheat Flowers Bloom,’ is proposed to showcase the romantic and local natural environment of Uiryeong along with the unique taste of Uiryeong’s special dish, buckwheat noodles, to the whole country.

The county held an idea contest throughout June to reflect the innovative ideas of public officials in county administration, coinciding with the ‘Employee Communication and Empathy Day.’

Dongdong Fields, Uiryeong-eup, 2012.
[Image provided by Uiryeong-gun]

As a result of receiving proposals on a wide range of topics such as plans to revitalize Uiryeong tourism and festivals and improvement plans for representative facilities, a total of 33 submissions were received, among which 1 grand prize and 5 excellence awards were selected.

The grand prize was awarded to the Planning and Budget Officer’s proposal to hold the ‘When the Uiryeong Buckwheat Flowers Bloom’ festival. Uiryeong, known as the birthplace of buckwheat noodles, aims to increase self-sufficiency by promoting large-scale production so that buckwheat can be cultivated locally, and to hold a festival combining buckwheat-based foods against the backdrop of beautiful buckwheat flowers.

It was also suggested to increase the festival’s appeal by linking it annually around October with the Rich Rich Festival and to create a ‘Buckwheat Flower Road’ section along the Uiryeong Premium 100-ri Trail, which, together with Hwajeong-myeon’s ‘the longest 3 km poppy flower road in Korea,’ would simultaneously captivate tourists with the pure and delicate white beauty and the enchanting red hues.

In addition to the local representative food, buckwheat noodles, it was proposed to develop other buckwheat-based local foods such as buckwheat kalguksu (hand-cut noodles) and buckwheat Makgeolli to promote their health benefits and taste.

Meanwhile, the background for awarding the grand prize included expectations that the ‘When the Uiryeong Buckwheat Flowers Bloom’ festival could realize the potential of the county’s ongoing ‘Village Economy Vitalization Project.’

The county is challenging the ‘Local Characteristics Revitalization Project’ contest, aiming to discover representative resources in small eup and myeon areas and improve village landscapes to simultaneously attract tourists and increase the resident population, concluding that the ‘When the Uiryeong Buckwheat Flowers Bloom’ festival fits as a specialized project utilizing local characteristics.

County Governor Oh Tae-wan said, “All 33 proposed ideas are useful and serve as high-quality fuel to ignite the spark of county development,” adding, “We will carefully manage policies so that creative ideas lead to administrative benefits centered on the residents.”

Meanwhile, the excellence awards in this idea contest went to proposals such as ▲support for flag holders on apartment railings ▲operation of a ‘Getting Rich’ experience course ▲expansion of the Gigan Dapsari Festival ▲making Rich City Uiryeong ▲and promotional activities through social media.

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