Mapo-gu, Boom Festival for Revitalizing Alley Economy in All 16 Neighborhoods Achieves Great Success

May 25-26: About 50,000 Tourists Visit
Yonggangdong Shopping District Pork Ribs, Gongdeok Market Jokbal, and Other Famous Mapo Foods Gathered
Park Gang-su, Mapo District Mayor, "We Will Do Our Best to Develop Traditional Markets and Alley Commerce"

Mapo-gu (Mayor Park Gang-su) announced that approximately 50,000 tourists visited the Mapo Alley Market ‘Boom’ Festival held over two days on May 25 and 26 at Hongdae Red Road R1, achieving great success.

The Mapo Alley Market ‘Boom’ Festival is an ambitious event prepared by Mapo-gu to revitalize the alley economy across all 16 neighborhoods of Mapo-gu. A total of 25 organizations participated in the festival, including traditional markets and shopping districts representing Mapo-gu, as well as publishing and design companies.

At the festival site, the Mapo Gourmet Zone and Food Promotion Zone were set up, where visitors could taste representative foods from each commercial area, such as pork ribs from Yonggang-dong shopping district, jokbal (pig’s trotters) from Mapo Gongdeok Market, and skirt meat from Dohwa-dong shopping district.

Additionally, Mapo-gu broke the stereotype that disposable products are essential for food festivals by adopting a reusable container system, significantly reducing household waste and creating an eco-friendly festival.

Since the festival was held at Hongdae Red Road, a famous spot loved by tourists worldwide, not only local residents and domestic tourists but also foreign tourists enjoyed exploring the booths and tasting various flavors of Mapo.

Song Ha-jun (pseudonym, 33), who participated in the festival, said, “It was a joyful time to taste foods from all over Mapo in one place,” adding, “I plan to visit the restaurants and markets in Mapo that I discovered at the Boom Festival.”

Moreover, at 4 p.m. on the 25th, a roulette game called ‘Catch Your Luck,’ hosted by broadcaster Jo Young-gu, attracted the attention of tourists.

Mapo-gu also created a props sales zone featuring shops from Hapjeong Sky Road shopping district, Hongdae small business shops, and Bangulnaegil alley-type shops, captivating shoppers of all ages from children to seniors with charming items, widely promoting the unique characteristics of Mapo’s commercial areas.

Park Gang-su, Mayor of Mapo-gu, said, “We organized the Boom Festival to promote the proud flavors of Mapo and revitalize the commercial areas across all 16 neighborhoods,” adding, “Mapo-gu will continue to develop various policies and events to support the growth of traditional markets and alley commercial areas.”

Meanwhile, Mapo-gu plans to revitalize commercial areas throughout Mapo by creating attractions that reflect the local characteristics of Mapo, including Hongdae Red Road, Hapjeong-dong ‘Sky Road,’ Yeonnam-dong ‘Kkirikkiri Road,’ and the currently developing Dohwa-dong ‘Flower Road.’

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