At Boryeong Mud Festival, 1.2 million get down and dirty

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At Boryeong Mud Festival, 1.2 million get down and dirty

Visitors to the Boryeong Mud Festival in South Chungcheong try a "Tough Mudder" obstacle course on Saturday. [NEWS1]

Visitors to the Boryeong Mud Festival in South Chungcheong try a "Tough Mudder" obstacle course on Saturday. [NEWS1]

 
The Boryeong Mud Festival surpassed its 1.2 million people target, according to the South Chungcheong provincial government and the city of Boryeong, which organized the event.
 
Festival organizers said they saw a higher-than-expected number of foreign visitors despite concerns over the ongoing sixth wave of Covid-19 and heavy rainfall.
 
But the festival got off to a poor start, according to insiders who spoke to the JoongAng Ilbo.
 
Only 110,000 people visited in the first week after it opened on July 16 — an abysmally low figure, considering that municipal and provincial officials anticipated a daily attendance rate of at least 40,000 people per day.
 
The numbers picked up, surpassing 500,000 after two weeks and reaching the 1-million mark last Thursday.
 
Attendance skyrocketed at the beginning of the three-day Liberation Day weekend, with the festival attracting some 120,000 visitors on Saturday alone.
 
Aug. 15, which fell on Monday this year, traditionally marks the end of the summer holiday period in Korea.
 
Activities at the festival included physical games and races in "processed high-quality ocean mud" from Daecheon beach in Boryeong, South Chungcheong, according to the festival website.
 
Boryeong, located on the western coast of Korea, is famous for wide mudflats lining the Yellow Sea that contain mud rich in minerals.
 
Promotional materials for the festival tout the alleged health benefits of getting covered in mud, such as anti-aging and exfoliation properties.
 
The festival, now in its 25th year, was not held in person in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Some online events took place.
 
Last year's festival was a mixed online-offline event, and three events that could have drawn large crowds — a mini-marathon on mudflats, an absurd behavior contest and a music concert — were canceled due to a spike in Covid infections at the time.
 
Launched in 1998, the mud festival is one of the most popular events in Korea for international visitors.  
 
At its peak in 2019, the festival attracted about 1.81 million participants, including about 380,000 foreigners, according to the Boryeong city government.
 
The festival was named one of Asia's three major festivals by the International Festivals & Events Association Asia in 2021.
 
The two others were the annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, which takes place in the northeastern Chinese city between January and February, and a nationwide water festival in Thailand held during Songkran, the Thai New Year holiday in April.  
 

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
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