July 2015 World Festival: South Korea

World Festivals: South Korea

What is it?

• The Boryeong Mud Festival is held every year at Boryeong’s Deachon beach, a town 200 km south of Seoul, South Korea. The festival began in 1998 and was originally meant to promote the cosmetic effects of the mud flats.
• It has become a most popular event and attracts over 2 million visitors per year. In 2015, it is held from July 17 to July 27.

What activities take place?

• During the festival period, tourists flock to the area to experience the beneficial properties of the Boryeong mud, and also to have lots of fun. Fully immersed in both the mud and the festival’s great atmosphere, visitors enjoy mud wrestling, mud sliding and even swimming in the mud mega tub.
• Visitors feeling particularly energetic can try the marine mud-training course, whilst those looking for something more chilled can relax in the mud massage zone. In the evening, music and fireworks continue the party on the beach.

Venues

• A stage on the beach is used for live music, competitions and various other visual attractions.
• A small market runs along the seafront selling cosmetics made from the mud of Boryeong. Various health and beauty clinics offer massages, acupuncture and other treatments utilising the medicinal qualities of the mud.

Healthy mud cosmetics?

• The mud is taken from the Boryeong mud flats, and trucked to the Daecheon beach area, where it is used as the centre piece of the 'Mud Experience Land'. The mud is considered rich in minerals and is normally used to manufacture cosmetics. The festival was originally conceived as a marketing vehicle for Boryeong mud cosmetics.

Programs

• Street parade, yacht parade, mud showroom, local specialties exhibition & sale, mud super slide, mud wrestling competition, mud marathon, mud painting, mud massage, etc.

Source: http://www.boryeongmudfestival.com/

http://www.carnifest.com/events/south-korea/boryeong/571/boryeong-mud-festival-2015.aspx