2025 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival Season Opening 'Seondeung Street Lighting Ceremony' Held on the 21st

The 2025 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival season will officially begin on the 21st with the opening of the Indoor Ice Sculpture Plaza and the Lantern Street Lighting Ceremony.

Hwacheon County, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province (Governor Choi Moon-soon) announced on the 19th that the Lantern Street Lighting Ceremony, marking the opening of the 2025 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival season, will be held at 6 PM on the 21st around Jungang-ro in Hwacheon-eup.

The lighting ceremony of the lantern street marking the opening of the 2024 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival season held at the end of last year. Photo by Hwacheon Guncheon

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Prior to this, at 5:20 PM, a torch lighting ceremony announcing the opening of the Indoor Ice Sculpture Plaza will take place at the Seohwasan Multipurpose Plaza in Hwacheon-eup.

On Lantern Street, tens of thousands of colorful Sancheoneo lanterns and LED lights, handcrafted by local elders over the past year, have been installed. When the Sancheoneo lanterns on Lantern Street light up simultaneously, a spectacular celebratory performance will follow.

This year, popular singers Kim Jong-kook, Kim Hyun-jung, and Rocket Punch will perform exciting stages for residents and tourists.

The Ice Sculpture Plaza that opened during the 2024 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival season. Photo by Hwacheon County Office

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The Indoor Ice Sculpture Plaza, making its debut on this day, features world-famous architectural structures and various sculptures carved by technicians from the Harbin-based Ice and Snow Culture Development Co., Ltd., who arrived last month.

The Indoor Ice Sculpture Plaza, covering a total area of 1,700㎡, uses more than 8,500 ice sculptures. Each ice sculpture weighs 135 kg. This year, over 30 works will be exhibited in the Indoor Ice Sculpture Plaza, including a large Taegeukgi (Korean national flag), Singapore’s Sultan Mosque, India’s Golden Temple, Jordan’s Petra, Korea’s Turtle Ship, and the Ice Hotel. Popular character sculptures and a large slide for children will also be created.

The Indoor Ice Sculpture Plaza will be open free of charge only on the opening day, the 21st.

Meanwhile, Hwacheon County will implement traffic control around Jungang-ro in Hwacheon-eup from 4 PM on the 21st, just before the lighting ceremony, until the event concludes, in preparation for the expected large crowds.

Choi Moon-soon, Governor of Hwacheon County, said, “We will welcome tourists who have waited for a year with a safe and enjoyable festival in January next year.”

The 2025 Ice Country Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival will be held for 23 days from January 11 to February 2 next year along the Hwacheoncheon Stream and Hwacheon-eup area.

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