SUWON — The 9th Yeoju Forest Products Festival will bring together clean forest products grown directly by foresters in the Yeoju area.
Yeoju City said on the 21st that it will hold the festival for two days, from the 31st to Nov. 1, at the main parking lot plaza and Parking Lot B of the Shinsegae Simon Yeoju Premium Outlets.
The festival marks Foresters' Day on Nov. 1. Running from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. under the theme "Bringing the Value of Forests Into Daily Life," it takes the form of a direct-sale market aimed at raising local foresters' incomes and widening sales channels for forest products.
Gyeonggi Province, Yeoju City, the Yeoju City Forestry Cooperative and the Yeoju chapter of the Korea Professional Foresters Association are taking part together. They have joined forces to promote consumption and raise awareness of local forest products.
On offer at the festival site will be Yeoju's signature forest products — shiitake mushrooms, jujubes, chestnuts and wild-cultivated ginseng — along with a range of other items including castor aralia, walnuts, pine mushrooms and honey. Visitors can buy products grown and processed by the producers themselves on the spot.
Participating local forest households and producer groups include Cheonyang Wild Ginseng Farm, Pyeongri Natural Farm, Beomsil Farm, Solbit Farm, Yeodaejang Farming Cooperative, Areumduri Walnut Farm, Sanmaru Chestnut Farm and the Yeoju Daewang Jujube Growers' Group. They plan to showcase the quality and excellence of Yeoju forest products directly to consumers.
This year's festival has been expanded in both product range and scale, as it is being jointly organized by the Yeoju City Forest Products Festival Organizing Committee and the Yeoju chapter of the Korea Professional Foresters Association.
Yeoju City expects the event to be a good opportunity to introduce local forest products to visitors from the greater Seoul area who come to the Yeoju Premium Outlets on weekends. It also expects direct transactions between producers and consumers to boost incomes for forest households and support the local economy.
"This festival gives local foresters new sales channels and gives consumers a chance to encounter Yeoju's clean forest products firsthand," said Jung Sang-geun, chair of the 9th Yeoju City Forest Products Festival Organizing Committee. "I hope visitors to Yeoju this autumn enjoy both healthy food and the rich atmosphere of the season."
"We prepared a more substantial event this year in cooperation with the Professional Foresters Association," Yeoju Mayor Lee Choong-woo said. "I hope many visitors experience the excellence of Yeoju forest products, and that this becomes a place of mutual benefit where forest households and consumers smile together."