“It’s a lot of people, and there’s a lot of people here that are not even compared to the opening day.”
On the 13th January, when a frozen wave hit all over the country lost its power, the packed crowd was found at the Sancheoneo Festival held on the Hwacheon River ice field in Hwacheon-eup of Hwacheon-gun, Gangwon-do. Hwacheon-gun said that 217,744 people visited the festival on that day.
The record for the biggest daily crowd was 186,724 people registered on January 21 last year. A festival official said, “If this momentum is expected, the cumulative number of spectators will exceed 1 million next week.”
The festival area was hard to find an empty spot with fishing rods spread by tourists in every ice hole. In the parking lot and the nearby road, it was difficult to pass the car rather than parking.
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“It seems that more crowds have gathered than the opening day of 130,000 people,” said the parking manager. On the Hwacheon River, which was freezing more than 30cm, anglers pushed their faces near the ice hole and watched the movement of the Mountain Trout fish. In every part of the fishing boat, the fishing line was pulled as hard as possible, and the sound of “caught” burst out. Tourists who had lost their fishing tackle and lifted their fishing rods were also sad.
Kim Myong-cheol (42), who visited the second day of the festival together with his wife, two children, and nephews, said, “The children are more delightful in the warmer weather,” he said. “Yesterday, it was hard for me to make a hole on the ice because of cold weather.”
Yuan Huan Min (27), a college student from Taiwan, said, “I have come to Japan with my friends because they have a good fishing experience on the internet.” The cold weather in Taiwan is about 10 degrees Celsius. It is wonderful to be caught.”
Many tourists participated in the experience of catching the bare hands of the Mountain Trout fish, which is very popular every year, and forgot the cold and enjoyed the unique memories. The short-sleeved shirts and shorts were also cheered by the bare-handed fish caught in the mouth.
Tourists who were hungry by fishing enjoyed the festival with five senses by grilling a Mountain Trout fish at the grilled spot.
Santa Claus, from Rovaniemi, Finland, famous for ‘Santa town’, was enjoying the children’s interest by riding the rides on the Rudolph model sled. The blue-eyed Santa handed out gifts to the children and greeted them with warm greetings.
Visitors to the event site, including ice-skating rinks and ice sculpture parks, were constantly attracted to tourists. The festival area and neighboring shopping districts are enjoying special festivals for tourists. The festival program has about 60 kinds of ice fishing, catching fish by bare hands, lure fishing, sledding, ice sculpture exhibition, and creative sled contest.
The 2018 World Winter Festival International Symposium was held at the youth training center in the vicinity of the festival area.
A total of 759,177 people visited the festival area by 6 pm on the day, and Hwacheon County realized the status of Korea’s representative winter festival. Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival will continue until 28th.
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