Category: Festivals & Events

The annual Haeundae Sand Festival is coming, so mark your calendars.

The festival will be open for four days starting May 19th. This year’s theme will be World Expo 2030. Three Korean artists and eight international artists from the US, Canada, China, etc will showcase sand sculptures.

I think sand festivals are fabulous. After the festival is over, there is no garbage to clean up.

Throughout the year, many festivals and events take place in Busan. Busan has designated May to be their “Ocean Month” and a lot of ocean-related events have been scheduled. If you are visiting Busan, you will probably be spending a lot of time in the Gwangalli Beach area. If you come anytime between the 12th and 14th of May, you will be able to enjoy the Gwangalli Eobang Festival.

The Gwangalli Eobang Festival is the only festival in Korea that celebrates traditional fishing culture from the Joseon Dynasty. Many programs let visitors catch fish with nets, play traditional games and wear hanbok (traditional attire).

If you are not a fan of these programs, let me tell you about the various cultural performances and parades available. Speaking of parades, this Saturday, May 13th at 4 pm, if you visit the Gwangalli area, you will be able to see people walk in a parade wearing traditional dresses.

Also, the drone show! I’ve mentioned it before, but the drone show happens every Saturday night in the Gwangalli area. As a part of the Gwangalli Eobang Festival, drones will fill the night sky with a fish-related theme. There will be two shows, one at 8 pm and the other at 10 pm, respectively.

Starting at 9:30 pm on the 12th, 13th, and 14th, “Eobang EDM Party” will be happening. EDM stands for Electronic Dance Music. As the name suggests, DJs will be playing on the beaches, and anyone can dance and join the party!

The festival is open to anyone for free of charge. If you are interested, you can find more information at english.visitkorea.or.kr.

There are many special holidays in May. Some include Children’s Day, Teacher’s Day, Parents’ Day, and Buddha’s Day. It may just be a part of our culture, but even if you are not Buddhist, many go to temple every once in a while to find tranquility and inner peace.

The Busan Lotus Lantern Festival is held to celebrate Buddha’s Birthday and can be celebrated whether you are religious or not.

Fyi, Buddha’s birthday is on the lunar calendar, so the exact date differs from year to year. This year, it falls on May 27th.

Anyways, this year’s Busan Lotus Lantern Festival began on April 28th and will last until May 20th at the Song Sanghyeon Square in Busan Citizens’ Park.

There are many different lanterns to see, some are big, and some are small enough to be hung above your head. Others are colorful, white, or shaped like flowers. There are some booths that let visitors have cool experiences, too. So, if you have a chance, check it out.

If any of you are planning a trip to Busan and are looking for something to do with your kids on Children’s Day, I recommend checking out some of our events and festivals.

First, the Busan Cinema Center will host a “Children’s Day Festival” in the town square on Friday, May 5^th. This event is free of charge for all visitors.

From 10 am to 3 pm, a lot of fun events are scheduled to be held. That includes a concert of Carrie and Friends, a DJ dance party, a magic show, a fan meeting with a famous YouTuber, 에그박사, and a recital.

If your kid is around five to ten years old, you must know who Carrie is.

Carrie and Friends will have a concert three times that day, one at 10 am, 11:30 am and the last at 2:30 pm.

At 11:00 am, the DJ will turn up the music in the square of Busan Cinema Center. All kids willing to dance can join and enjoy the clubbing vibe.

The science magic show will be held at 12 pm and Dr. Eggie (에그박사) will have a fan meeting at 1 pm. The kids can also show their talent at 2 pm at the talent show. You and your kids won’t want to miss these free events.

Meanwhile, Busan Minjoo Park (aka Busan Democracy Park) will run a special program on Children’s Day, too. Visitors will be able to experience a variety of things, hopping from a booth to booth. A play and street dance show are also scheduled to be held at 3:30 pm that day.

Now that May is just around the corner, I would like to begin with what is scheduled for the Gwangalli M Drone Light Show next month.

For those who haven’t heard about the Gwangalli M Drone Light Show, it is a free attraction held in front of Gwangalli Beach twice every Saturday. Thousands of drones fill the night sky and feature a variety of themes throughout the week.

The themes for next month are a little bit more special since May marks the first anniversary of the light show. To celebrate its anniversary, the Suyeong-gu district held a vote last month which let citizens vote for their favorite drone shows. After the voting period ended, they picked the five most voted for themes.

The themes were as followed:

On May 6th, the show’s theme will be “marriage proposal.” A few lucky couples will have this opportunity to pop the question as drone write, “will you marry me?” in the sky.

The next week, Gwangalli Eobang Festival is scheduled to be held. In order to celebrate the local festival, drones will put on a related themed performance.

On May 20th, drones will decorate the sky with a magic theme.

On May 27th, the most voted for show will be held and 1,500 drones will decorate the sky. The organizer hasn’t revealed which theme won, so we will have the wait until the 27th to find out. That day, there will only be one show at 8 pm.

If you visit Busan during that weekend, you won’t want to miss the drone light show.

If you happen to visit Busan next weekend, you should consider visiting the Gijang-gun area to check out the Gijang Anchovy Festival.

The festival will be held in Daebyeon Port in the Gijang-gun district from this coming Friday, April 21st to next Sunday, April 23rd. Daebyeon may sound like a funny name to those who speak Korean, but it is the name of the town. This town is well-known as a fishing village.

I’ve been to the Gijang Anchovy Festival before. If you go, you can find the whole strip packed with booths. These booths lines along the street and sell everything related to anchovies. They have everything from fresh anchovies to dried anchovies, to fermented ones, to fish sauce.

Since the town of Daebyeon Port is located on the outskirts of Busan in Gijang, I would recommend driving there. There is plenty of parking.

Although, if you wish to use public transportation, remember that bus number 181 travels all the way from Hauendae Station to Daebyeon Port.

For those who are not familiar with the “Kpop Dream Concert,” it is one of the largest Kpop events in Korea. This event began in 1995 under the sponsor of HD Hyundai Oil-Bank. That means that this year marks the 29th anniversary.

Up until now, it had been held in Seoul, but this year, the HD Hyundai group has decided to hold the concert here in Busan in support of the city hosting the 2030 World Expo Busan. Yay!

The Kpop Dream Concert is scheduled for May 27th and the venue will be the Asia Stadium in the Yeonje-gu District.

The price of tickets is expected to cost between 10,000 won and 50,000 won, depending on where you sit. The catch is that you will not be the only one waiting for the tickets to go on sale! It is no surprise that a lot of people will be buying tickets as soon as the sale goes live.

So, the question is: When can you buy a ticket to the Dream Concert?

According to the organizers, ticket sales will start during the first week of May, but we don’t know the exact date yet.

I will update you when I know more specific information.

Anyways, if you are a big fan of Kpop, mark your calendars! I hope you can make it!