Hwacheon Ice Fish Festival Goes Viral Online with Over 6,000 Videos
Creatrip Team
2 months ago
The 2026 Hwacheon Sancheoneo (mountain trout) Ice Festival is drawing huge online attention: more than 6,000 videos related to the festival were created in the first 18 days after opening. Around 2,700 of those are short-form clips on platforms like YouTube and Instagram. Popular streamers on Korea’s largest personal broadcasting site SOOP and other creators are live-streaming and posting content ranging from under-one-minute “shorts” to hour-long videos. Content covers everything from ice-fishing gear and travel tips to nearby attractions and sancheoneo recipes. A short clip of a helper rescuing a phone dropped into an ice-fishing hole recently surpassed 10 million views. To support creators, the county set up an influencer support center at the festival. Hwacheon’s mayor said the mix of ice fishing, indoor ice sculpture plaza, sledding and other activities is fueling interest and encouraged more visitors while the festival continues this week.
