Now In Korea
'Kimbap Heaven' Festival Draws 150,000 Visitors to Gimcheon
Creatrip Team
a month ago
Gimcheon, a small city in North Gyeongsang Province (Gyeongsangbuk-do), hosted its second annual '2025 Gimcheon Kimbap Festival' over two days, attracting about 150,000 visitors—more than the city's population of roughly 134,537. Attendance was 80,000 on day one and 70,000 on day two, far exceeding organizers' expectations. High demand prompted some booths to sell out and officials to limit purchases to four rolls (sheets) per person. The festival, inspired by the local image of 'Kimbap Heaven' (김밥천국), expanded vendor participation from eight to about 30 businesses and showcased roughly 50 varieties of kimbap, including a winning 'walnut mayo pork kimbap' and familiar frozen kimbap for foreigners. The site was divided into themed zones based on common kimbap ingredients: danmuji (pickled radish), cucumber, and ham. Organizers ran shuttle buses from multiple city points and issued traffic and entry-control alerts as crowds surged; some visitors criticized long queues and called for a longer festival to spread demand. An open-kitchen 'kimbap factory' video, showing staff in hygienic gear rolling kimbap in assembly-line fashion, went viral online. Ahead of the event, suspected midge larvae were found in the city tap water, so officials used bottled water for drinking and food preparation and pledged to restore normal water supply quickly.
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