The 48th Yangyang Cultural Festival will be held at Namdaecheon Waterside Park from the 18th to the 20th.

Yangyang = Yonhap News) Reporter Ryu Ho-jun = Gangwon-do Yangyang-gun announced on the 16th that it will hold the '48th Yangyang Cultural Festival' in the Namdaecheon Waterside Park area from the 18th to the 20th.

Hosted by the Yangyang Cultural Festival Committee and organized by the Yangyang Cultural Center and the Yangyang-gun Sports Council, this event is a local cultural festival that represents the region to pray for national prosperity and good farming and good fishing.

On the morning of the 18th, the first day of the festival, the Kochi Water Ceremony and Seonghwangsa Ceremony are held at Kochi Water Spring and Seonghwangsa Temple, respectively, to announce the start of the festival.

Starting at 4 p.m. on this day, a large-scale street parade will be held with about 500 people from the public, government, and military participating.

The festival atmosphere is heightened by a lantern procession led by the traditional Chwita band, a procession by Yangju Defense Forces and Daepo Sugun Manho, a Neolithic costume procession, and village and township-specific Nongak and promotional parades.

Then, at 6:30 p.m., the 'March 1 Yangyang Manse Movement Reenactment Event' will be held on a special stage at Namdaecheon Waterside Park with the participation of about 100 professional actors and veterans' organization members, followed by the opening ceremony.

At the opening ceremony, an awards ceremony will be held for this year's County Citizen Cultural Award winners.

The three winners are Sang-ho Han, a researcher at the Yangyang Studies Research Institute affiliated with the Yangyang Cultural Center in the academic category, novelist Gyeong-ja Lee in the culture and arts category, and Ji Dal-ho, president of the Yangyang-gun Traditional Market Merchants Association, in the regional development category.

They were honored with the award in recognition of their contribution to the promotion of local culture and development of the local community.

After the opening ceremony, performances by invited singers, a singing contest by residents, and fireworks continue to add to the excitement of the festival.

On the 19th, there will be a demonstration of Sudonggol bieryeosori and Sangbokgol farm song, Gangwon-do's intangible cultural assets, as well as a village and town Nongak festival.

In addition, various folk games in which residents directly participate, such as pulling a wooden needle, selling rice balls, wrestling, and tug-of-war, are held to provide a venue for communication and harmony between generations.

On the 20th, the last day, the 'Yangyang-gun Citizen Harmony Festival' will be held hosted by the Yangyang-gun Sports Council, and will feature recreation between towns and villages and impromptu games, marking the finale of the festival.

In addition, during the festival, various side events are held, including literary events such as Hyeonsan Baekiljang and Calligraphy Contest, as well as traditional folk experiences, agricultural and specialty product promotion halls, Yangyang old photo exhibition, and Anavada Market.

An official at the Yangyang Cultural Festival said, "It is a representative cultural festival in the region that inherits the spirit of ancestors' rituals," and added, "We hope that it will serve as an opportunity to strengthen the solidarity of the residents and become a new driving force for the development of the local community."