Themed on butterflies, flowers and insects, Hampyeong Butterfly Festival has been run for 26 years. Visitors can see around 9,000 butterflies of 459 kinds in the world and can observe how an egg grows to be a larva and to be a butterfly. Corners of the festival site are local specialty venders where visitors can enjoy local grown food. Around 180,000 people visited the festival during 11 days and 729 million won worth tickets and food were sold. Mountain swallowtail butterfly represented the festival this year and its strong fertility means prosperity for the locals.

40 kinds of performances and events also took place here and there around the spring flowers such as mist flower, milkweeds and poppies. Picking a banana especially was very popular among family visitors on Children’s Day in May 5. Children were allowed to climb up the trees to pick one themselves. Some children also took part in making butterfly masks, feeding animals, and wearing butterfly costume with joy. When the sun went down, couples and families gather together after dinner to watch a movie at the drive-in cinema. Some ordered a food to be delivered to their cars to add extra fun. Jihyun Park, YB Band, Holly Bang, Coyote, Yuk Jung-wan Band, Casey, and Vista took the stage to show off their musical talent.

County Mayor Sangik Lee said “We finished the festival with a great success thanks to 600 staff members and volunteers and above all the 180,000 visitors. Next year, we will have more fun and exciting programs.” Hampyeong Expo Park, where the festival took place, opens to the public from May 9 for free.