Gangdong to provide a feast of 'prehistoric fun'
Children try to make a fire with wooden sticks at the Amsa-Prehistoric Settlement Site in Gangdong District, eastern Seoul, during last year’s Pre-historic Culture Festival of Gangdong. This year’s festival will be held at the venue from Oct. 9 to 11. / Courtesy of Gangdong District Office
By Jung Min-ho
The Pre-historic Culture Festival of Gangdong will turn the clock back thousands of years to offer a chance to experience what it was like to live without technology.
From Oct. 9 to 11, Gangdong District Office in eastern Seoul will host the annual event at the Amsa-Prehistoric Settlement Site, where visitors will experience prehistoric life and see larger-than-life replicas of mammoths and other Neolithic Era creatures.
The festival, which has been held since 1996, will feature parades, performing arts, fireworks and K-pop music performances by singers, including Seventeen and Hong Jin-young.
At the venue, there is a prehistoric village, which depicts the lifestyle of the Neolithic Era, as well as exhibition halls that display ancient artifacts and relics.
Visitors will have an opportunity for hands-on activities, including fire making with wooden sticks, earthenware making and experiencing mock-up dugout huts.
The opening ceremony will start with K-pop singers at 8:40 p.m. on the first day. But street performances and a lighting ceremony will be held from 11 a.m.
On the second day, visitors will have opportunities to learn about various Korean traditional games during the day before the rock music performances scheduled at 5:30 p.m.
The highlight of the festival will be a two-hour parade from Cheonil Middle School to the Amsa-Prehistoric Settlement Site. Some 70 large-sized statues featuring prehistoric life will lead the parade, with dozen groups of people following in different themes. The organizers expect the parade will attract 1,500 people.
After more gigs and special events on the third day, the festival will wrap up with fireworks.
The organizers expect the festival to draw the biggest-ever crowd of more than 400,000 people for the three days, up from 380,000 last year.
The festival recently won three awards from the International Festivals & Events Association this year, including a gold medal among budget events from $250,000 to $750,000.
“The awards recognize the values of our festival,” Lee Hae-sik, head of the district office, said. “We will continue to work to improve it.”