HANAM — A special autumn festival inviting visitors to slow down from their busy routines and find rest in the embrace of a forest and the Han River is coming to Hanam, Gyeonggi Province.
Hanam City and the Hanam Cultural Foundation said on the 14th that they will hold the 2026 Hanaban Healing Festival on Oct. 17 and 18 at the Tree Nursery (Hanam's "Tree Orphanage," a site where trees uprooted from development projects are collected and cared for) and around Misa Han River Park No. 4. The event will offer deep rest to residents and visitors through healing programs that engage the senses, including forest yoga and meditation, nature experiences and a riverside picnic concert.
The festival name "Hanaban" carries a double meaning: falling for Hanam, and meeting one's companion tree in Hanam. Drawing on the natural resources of the Tree Nursery, the city aims to let visitors meet and form a bond with their own companion tree and to convey a new side of Hanam's appeal through a deeper connection with nature that is hard to find in a city center.
On the first day, the 17th, the Tree Nursery will host forest yoga for families, forest meditation and a healing talk concert with picture-book author and poet Lee Jeong-rok. From 6 p.m. the same day, the Hanaban "It's Okay" Concert will color the autumn night at Misa Han River Park No. 4. Min Kyung-hoon, formerly of the band Buzz, the soulful hitmakers Urban Zakapa and the a cappella group Narin will perform in a picnic-style show where the audience sits on mats and takes in the breeze off the Han River.
Hands-on sensory programs continue at the Tree Nursery on the 18th. The signature program, the Mind Speed Marathon, sets aside competition over finishing times and has participants walk slowly along forest trails to recover their own pace. Other participatory events designed to awaken the senses include a forest sleep contest and forest sports.
With support for local tourism content from Gyeonggi Province and the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization, Hanam plans to develop the festival into a stay-and-rest wellness tourism brand rather than a one-off event. The city intends to build it into a sustainable signature tourism offering by strengthening links with nearby natural attractions, such as the Misa Han River sand trail, and with local businesses.
"We designed this Hanaban Healing Festival to give people a chance to step away from the pace of the world for a while, recover their own rhythm and connect with nature," Hanam Mayor Lee Hyun-jae said. "We will continue to find and develop a distinctive wellness tourism foundation so that the rest and memories people discover in Hanam become a reason to come back."