Seoul's Daehangno theater district to host 3-day car-free street festival
A promotional poster for the three-day festival at Daehangno in Seoul's Jongno District / Courtesy of Jongno District Office
Jongno District in central Seoul will hold a three-day cultural festival from Thursday to Saturday in Daehangno, the city’s main performing arts district, part of which will be closed to cars.
Daehangno is home to more than 100 small theaters. The district office said it is working with local artists, merchants and students to fill Marronnier Park and the main road between Exits 1 and 2 of Hyehwa Station with performances, exhibitions, hands-on activities and markets.
The park’s outdoor stage will host events on all three days. A fashion show featuring foreign and senior models, a singing contest and a musical gala concert will open the festival on Thursday. A Zumba dance festival will follow on Friday.
Saturday’s lineup includes a dance contest and a K-pop “random play dance,” in which participants jump in to dance whenever a song they know is played. The lineup also features a stage play.
An opening parade on Friday at 2 p.m. will feature a marching band from the elementary school affiliated with Seoul National University’s College of Education. The band will march from Hyehwa Station’s Exit 1 to Marronnier Park.
From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. each day, the main road will become “Daehangno Culture Street.” It will offer a field day for all ages, traditional Korean games such as tuho, an arrow-throwing game, and top spinning. There will also be indie band performances and a street gallery. Local craftspeople and emerging artists will run a market in the park.
Traffic will be blocked along a 350-meter stretch from Hyehwa Station’s Exit 1 to the east gate of Seoul National University Hospital from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday.
“We will bring together Daehangno’s rich cultural assets and the creativity of its artists to make it a representative space of K-culture that draws global attention,” Jongno District head Yu Chan-jong said.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.