A Midsummer Night Festival in Gunsan

The special festival was held on a midsummer night every year in Gunsan, The "Gunsan Cultural Heritage Night Tour" was a festival where visitors could see and feel the modern cultural history of Gunsan at a glance. The event was held in inner harbor and the original downtown area of Gunsan, which contains the modern painting of Gunsan. It had been held for three days from August 13 to 15. The festival was firstly selected and implemented by the  Cultural Heritage Administration in 2016. It was held for five consecutive years this year. The Gunsan Night Festival was regarded as a representative cultural event in Gunsan. Its excellence has been evaluated nationwide. But the COVID-19 virus spread around the world this year. And all face-to-face events were canceled because of the large number of infections and deaths. The Gunsan Cultural Heritage Night Festival could not avoid the influence of COVID-19. This year's Gunsan Cultural Heritage Night Trip was carried out in compliance with the government's guidelines for social distance prevention. While reducing existing programs and changing the way events, it was planed such as the establishment of online and non-face-to-face programs. All visitors were require to wear masks and distance themselves during the event. Only providing that they receive a heat check, they could enjoy programs and cultural heritage viewing safely. A mobile quarantine booth was set up at the venue to automatically check for heat. In addition, students of Kunsan College of Nursing conducted to heat check according to cultural assets and visitors' movements. To prevent COVID-19, they did their best throughout the event. Gunsan City limited the number of visitors to programs and cultural assets. Many the flea markets and food booths were canceled this year. Although it is regrettable, it was possible to experience a different unique program. It was easy to enjoy live broadcasts of this event through applications such as Facebook and YouTube. You could hear explanations for Gunsan cultural assets through QR code with your mobile phone. Though the scale of the festival decreased, there were many different ways to enjoy the online festival in the current situation. I hope you can enjoy the culture of modern history in Gunsan by using online such as mobile phone application.

사진1: ▲A Midsummer Night Festival with the History of Modern Culture in Gunsan /Source: culture-nightgunsan.kr