Great Fun on the Beach

Boryeong Mud Festival on Daechon Beach to kick off on July 17, drawing many fun-seekers

The 13th Boryeong Mud Festival is set to run from July 17-25, three days longer than usual this year in line with its growing popularity, more so among foreign residents in Korea as the theme of the festival, “An Exciting Experience with Mud for Global Citizens,” shows.
As it did every year since its start in July 1998, the “mud-slinging” free-for-all party will get underway at Daechon Beach and downtown Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, with the slogan of “Get Yourselves Drowned in Mud, Roll Over them and Enjoy.”
Boryeong City and the Boryeong Mud Festival Organizing Committee said they will have 55 programs for the participants and spectators to enjoy during the nine-day period including 23 physical experiences, seven exhibitions and other activities such as sales stalls for local produce and products including cosmetics and handicrafts. There will also be 15 related programs such as a global festival forum, consultations on the export of mud cosmetics for the skin, an exhibition of photos of the mud festival, a world mud beauty skin care contest and a tour of the local area. There will also be 10 night events including an opening performance, a Mud B-boy performance and Hip-hop Rave Party, among others.
The organizers said the festival will offer a number of special attractions to the participants such as a free massage with mud powders to make the event more memorable and for the well-being of the participants. They will also have such exotic events as a marathon at a nearby mud flat, mud flat skiing and a march with flags on the mud flats.
The organizing committee promises the festival will be a fantastic experience for the participants, especially for foreigners, and invites everyone in the country to the event. The committee, with the help and cooperation of other related organizations, but most of all with the participants, will try to maintain the reputation of the event, which has been selected as a representative Korean festival, and make it continuously enjoyable for the participants. Japan has its “Sapporo Winter Snow Festival” and Korea has the Boryeong Mud Festival to share their global reputation. This year, too, like in any other past year, the people of Boryeong will welcome the visitors with smiles and dynamic programs to give them a long lasting memory. “Come to Daechon Beach,” they urged.
Boryeong City Mayor Shin Joon-hi said the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism designated the festival as Korea’s representative festival for three years in a row this year and it will be given financial support from the central government and the provincial government totaling 1.2 billion won, including 800 million won from the central government. The Korea Tourism Organization will also promote the festival overseas as a major attraction for the Visit Korea Year 2010-2012 as a representative festival in Korea that lures the largest number of fun-seeking foreign visitors annually.
The festival also set an unusual record for exporting its know-how to China last year, as the annual event attracted 15 million total visitors in its first 12 years including 400,000 foreign visitors, generating 370 billion won for the local economy of the region.
The festival won the Pinnacle Award from the International Festival and Events Association for three years in a row. Boryeong City plans to decorate the railroad station with a mud festival theme and design buses and taxis with mud designs as well as launch a “mud taxi” service between Boryeong and Daechon Beach where the festival will take place.
Mayor Shin said the mud festival has now become a global icon representing Korea and they plan to upgrade the festival this year in line with its international reputation so that it will feel like a brand new event for the participants from both Korea and abroad.
This year, the festival will have a number of special programs in tune with 2010 being the initial year for the Visit Korea Year campaign by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization by holding a mud expo to support the overseas marketing. nw

Foreign ladies here are seen enjoying playing at Daechon Beach during the Boryeong Mud Festival last year.