CHANGWON — Fireworks will fall over Masan's night sea. Changwon said it will stage a maritime "nakhwa" (traditional ember-drop fireworks) display for the first time at the 26th Masan Gagopa Chrysanthemum Festival, which runs for nine days from Oct. 31 to Nov. 8.
The festival will be held at three venues this year — 3·15 Marine Nuri Park, Happo Waterfront Park and Masan Marine New City — the city said on the 24th. The slogan is "Chrysanthemums Embrace the Autumn Sea." The city divided the festival into three zones and added new programs including the maritime nakhwa display and a chrysanthemum face-painting contest.
The main exhibition site, Venue 1 at 3·15 Marine Nuri Park, will feature eight themed displays using 100,000 chrysanthemums, along with the opening ceremony and a multimedia fireworks show. The maritime nakhwa display, a nighttime program debuting this year, and the public-participation chrysanthemum face-painting contest will also take place there.
Venue 2 at Happo Waterfront Park will host a fireworks show promoting local commerce and performances for the Masan Port night sea festival. Venue 3 at Masan Marine New City, newly created this year, is a dedicated space aimed at younger visitors, with a food place, an autumn cinema, a wedding photo zone and an artificial intelligence experience booth.
The city is also pushing measures to channel festival spending into local businesses. It is working to bring in chefs who appeared on tvN's "Street Restaurant Fighter" to the food place. A new "Chrysanthemum Pass" priced at 12,900 won will offer discounts at the festival grounds and at affiliated merchants across Changwon, and the city will distribute discount coupon books for nearby shops and operate a delivery zone at the festival site.
Convenience facilities have been expanded from last year. Parking will grow by 1,000 spaces to 5,500 from 4,500, and temporary restrooms will increase to nine locations from five.
All vendor booths at the festival will be required to display prices, country of origin, portion sizes and accepted payment methods. A one-strike-out rule will immediately remove any vendor found charging inflated prices. The city will operate a reusable container zone to cut single-use waste and will secure barrier-free routes accessible to wheelchairs and strollers throughout the grounds.
Related events will run during the festival period, including the Gagopa Masan Port Night Sea Festival, the Changwon Dragon Boat Race, the Changwon World Dica-Si Festival (dica-si, a genre pairing digital camera photos with short poems) and the Changdong Ramen Festival.
"This year's Masan Gagopa Chrysanthemum Festival will take a step forward as a premium festival that anyone will want to visit again, with expanded space and richer content," Changwon Mayor Kang Ki-yun said. "Above all, we have prepared carefully to make this a safe and trustworthy festival, and I hope visitors will create special memories this autumn with the people they cherish, amid the scent of chrysanthemums spreading across the Masan sea."
