Festivals

“Busan Sea Festival”: The Busan Sea Festival will be held from Aug. 1-9 at locations including Haeundae Beach, Gwangalli Beach, Song-do Beach and Songjeong Beach, as well as at various places in the city of Busan. It is Korea’s largest sea festival, and is a liaison of Busan International Rock Festival, Busan International Beach Dance Festival, Korean Sea Literature Festival, Busan Beach Game Festival and more. All participating beaches offer windsurfing and beach volleyball tournaments, pin-swimming tournament, and a lot more water sports events. Visitors can also take advantage of free lessons offered in ocean rafting, canoeing, kayaking, scuba diving and banana boat rides. For more information, call (051) 888-3395 or visit seafestival.co.kr.

“Gangjin Celadon Festival:” Gangjin Celadon Festival will be held from July 30 to Aug. 7 at the Goryeo Celadon Porcelain Kiln in Gangjin County in South Jeolla Province. From the 10th to the 14th century, Gangjin was a flourishing celadon production site. Today, 16 kilns remain active and during the Gangjin Celadon Cultural festival, you can see how celadon is baked and even make your own pottery. Near the venue, there are natural wild flower fields, which make for a great photo spot. Celadon experience programs include shaping celadon and coiling, standing spinning wheel experience. Other event programs include balsam nail polishing and clam digging. Admission fee is 7,000 won. For more information, call (061) 430-3191.

“Boryeong Mud Festival”: The Boryeong Mud Festival is one of the largest festivals in Korea, attracting a large number of international visitors. This year, it will take place from July 16 to July 24 at Daecheon Beach area in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province. Immersed in both the mud and the festival’s great atmosphere, visitors can try mud wrestling, mud sliding and even swimming in the mud mega tub. In the evening, music and fireworks will spice up the party atmosphere the beach. Other programs include local specialties exhibition and sale and a yacht parade. For more information, visit www.mudfestival.or.kr or call (041) 930-3820.

“K-pop Cover Dance Festival”: The Visit Korea Year Committee has kicked off the 2011 K-pop cover dance festival at www.coverdance.org. The committee will conduct an online preliminary competition until July 24. Applicants around the world can submit their K-pop cover dance video to the webpage. In countries where the registered videos get the most hits and “recommended” button clicks, the committee will run a second round competition by September. The finalists will be invited by the committee to visit Korea and compete on Oct. 3 in Gyeongju where the Korean Wave Dream Concert will be held on the same day. The final winners can join K-pop stars on stage at the Korean Wave Dream Concert. For more information, visit www.coverdance.org.