Join the flower banquets in spring and fall at Hadong
The Bukcheon Cosmos and Buckwheat Flower Festival in Hadong Country attracted 1.2 million visitors last year and it has grown to be one of the most popular festivals in the region. Bukcheon-myeon is where field poppy is grown on the largest field (165,289 square meters) in Korea. Although stood aloof from the Jiri Mountain and the Seomjin River, hundreds of thousands of people drop by weekly to see field poppy. If the festival attracts visitors who want to see cosmos and buckwheat flower in autumn, field poppy does so in spring. Unlike poppy, field poppy has no narcotics but mostly used for watching. A story goes that a royal concubine of Xiang Yu (BC232~202) died tragically and there burst up a flower on her grave and it was called field poppy. The 4th Bukcheon Field Poppy Festival this year attracted 380,000 visitors home and abroad and people from multicultural families joined various events and gave performance in their own mother tongue. Thanks to the success of the festival, local specialties were sold 5 hundred million won alone on the spot except the nearby restaurants and commercial buildings which adds more when calculated. “To make the festivals more exciting and convenient, we opened the railway bike by using the disused railway and added a local specialty event as a side. We will keep working on more events for the next year festivals so that everybody home and abroad know about how fun and exciting our festivals are” said the cooperative president Moon Myeon-geun. 

The festivals go global
In 2018, the Bukcheon Cosmos and Buckwheat Flower Festival was chosen as one of the best festivals in South Gyeongsang Province. First started in 2006, the festival attracted 1.2 million visitors last year. Cosmos and buckwheat flowers fill up the 396,694 square meter land during the 2 week festival and a variety of exciting events are held every day such as rail bike experience between Bukcheon Station and Yangbo Station and a pumpkin festival and contest. ”It is urgent, however, to cover the festival land with lawn as the current soil creates some inconveniences for visitors especially when it rains. The landscape subsidy issue also needs to be improved as some of event holding places are not paid while others are. One more thing to add is that the management of the festivals needs to be younger as many of the residents are older.” Thanks to the hard work of the local residents and Hadong County, Hadong County was designated as a global festival city. If you are interested in flower festivals this autumn, do not waste your time at picking up a place but go straight to Hadong County since beautiful flowers are ready to greet you with smile.