In June, Gunsan Will Be Immersed in Beer and Blues

Craft Beer & Blues Festival Opens June 12-14

Enjoy "Gunsan Beer Port" with Harbor Night Views

The "2026 Gunsan Craft Beer & Blues Festival," which fills the early summer nights of Gunsan, North Jeolla Province with craft beer and blues music, will be held for three days starting June 12. This year, the festival has scaled up as the region’s representative summer event by adding participation from overseas breweries, a major performance lineup, and nighttime tourism content.

The Gunsan Craft Beer & Blues Festival held last year. Photo by Gunsan City

This festival, taking place across the Gunsan area, will center around the Gunsan Modern History Museum and Gunsan Beer Port. Now in its fifth year, the event will feature four local Gunsan breweries, five breweries from sister cities in China, Japan, the United States, and Taiwan, as well as six craft breweries from across Korea that use Gunsan malt. Visitors will be able to sample a total of more than 50 varieties of craft beer.

The Gunsan Craft Beer & Blues Festival has rapidly grown into a nationwide summer tourism event in recent years. Last year, the influx of weekend visitors led to early sell-outs of accommodations, driving a tourism boom in the region. This year, as festival information spreads through broadcasting, social media, and online communities, inquiries about lodging, transportation, and performance schedules have increased significantly compared to previous years. Gunsan City is hoping for the first time to surpass 30,000 paid attendees.

Gunsan has attracted attention among Korea's craft beer cities as a case study in combining local agricultural products with tourism content. By using locally produced malt to strengthen its "local beer" identity, the city has continuously expanded the festival by linking the port, modern cultural heritage, and nighttime tourism.

This year’s lineup includes Kang San Ae, Kim Jong Seo, Kim Kyungho, and Sinchon Blues. The performance program will be centered around large-scale rock and blues performances, with a total of 17 teams, including 13 domestic and international blues bands, taking the stage.

On the opening day at 4 p.m., jazz guitarist Cho Yoon and his "Cho Yoon Unit" will kick off the festival. Cho Yoon, an alum of Gunsan Jeil High School and a jazz guitar major from New York University, adds special significance as a local musician opening the event.

This year, the main stage performances will also be broadcast live at Gunsan Beer Port, creating a space where visitors can enjoy the harbor night view, beer, and live music all at once, offering a different atmosphere from the main festival grounds.

The festival venue will be open daily from noon to 10 p.m. Approximately 5,000 table seats will be available, along with 30 local Gunsan restaurants and 20 promotional booths from companies and organizations.

During the festival, there will also be promotional booths for North Jeolla Province's bid to host the Summer Olympics, as well as the National Institute of Crop Science, local hotels, and food companies.

Park Yongwoo, head of the Food Policy Division, said, "The festival has established itself as a unique event in Gunsan where people can enjoy the craft beer industry along with music and tourism content," adding, "This year, we have prepared an even more diverse range of performances, food, and nighttime content."

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