Cloud crowds from the first day of the Gumi Ramen Festival... 22,000 bowls of delicacy ramen sold

Popular product, freshly fried ramen, the waiting line is 500m long

(Gumi = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Hyun-tae = The '2026 Gumi Ramen Festival', which has established itself as the representative festival of Gumi-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, is continuing to be a success this year.

According to Gumi City on the 7th, the number of bowls of delicacy ramen sold on site on the first day of the festival was 22,231, an increase of about 47% from last year (15,140 bowls).

Sales also reached 177 million won, an increase of more than 50 million won from last year (124 million won).

The exact sales volume of freshly fried ramen, a popular product of the festival, has not yet been calculated, but the queue to purchase it the day before reached 500 meters all day, so it is expected to surpass last year's sales of 480,000.

A total of 33 restaurants, including 25 ramen restaurants and 8 ramen trucks, will participate in this year's festival, which runs until the 8th. You can enjoy a variety of delicious ramen, from differentiated menus such as raw chambok ramen and mountain ramen using pine mushrooms and neungi to overseas noodle menus.

On this day, the second day of the festival, the final round of the '2026 Gumi Global Ramen Challenge' will be held on site.

Thirteen people from 13 countries, selected among 1,263 people from 80 countries around the world who participated in the online preliminary round, will compete in a ramen cooking competition that reflects each country's food culture and individuality.

Gumi Mayor Kim Jang-ho said, "The Gumi Ramen Festival is a festival unique to Gumi that connects local industry, agriculture, and food culture with the familiar content of ramen. We will do our best to operate it so that visitors can enjoy the festival safely and conveniently during the remaining period and experience the original downtown and local commercial districts together."