Icheonbaeksa Cornelian Cherry Blossom Festival – Yellow-tinted Landscape

Festival name	Icheonbaeksa Cornelian Cherry Blossom Festival
period	March 22, 2024 ~ March 24, 2024
location	12, Wonjeok-ro 775beon-gil, Baeksa-myeon, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do
fee	Free (separate from experiences and food)
home page	http://www.2104sansooyoo.com/

Hello. Today, I would like to write about the Icheon Baeksa Cornelian Cherry Blossom Festival that I visited on Saturday, March 23rd. Cornelian cherry blossoms are the heralds of spring that bloom before forsythia, cherry blossoms, and azaleas. They provide a wide shade in the summer, and from August to October, they bear oval red fruits.

We arrived at the Icheon Cornelian Cherry Festival around 12:00 on Saturday. As it is Korea’s representative cornelian cherry festival, we could see cars lined up to enjoy the spring.

The Icheon Cornelian Cherry Village, where the festival was held, is one of Korea’s famous cornelian cherry producing areas and spans three villages: Dorip-ri, Gyeongsa-ri, and Songmal-ri in Baeksa-myeon, Icheon-si.

At the entrance to the festival site, you will see the Sansuyu Sarangchae straight ahead. To the left of the Sarangchae are booths filled with experience booths, sales booths, and food booths, and to the right of the Sarangchae is a path leading up to the Sansuyu grove.

Of course, you can’t leave out exciting music when talking about festivals. Various performances such as saxophone, acoustic guitar, Nanta, and Pyongyang Art Troupe will be performed on the stage in front of Sarangchae.

The food booths sell a variety of foods, from meals to snacks. There are also experience booths where you can experience various things, such as pressing cornelian cherry blossoms, woodworking, calligraphy, nature observation, and traditional games, so you will enjoy the festival without realizing the passage of time.

There are many interesting things to do on the way up to the cornelian cherry grove, such as various food and experience booths. Also, if you apply for a forest guide, you can listen to the guide while climbing up to the cornelian cherry grove.

On March 23rd, when I visited, the cornelian cherry blossoms were about 50% in bloom. The festival lasts until the 24th, but you can still enjoy the cornelian cherry blossoms after the festival ends.

On the way up to the cornelian cherry grove, you will pass a temple called Yeongchuksa and a pavilion called Yukgoejeong. The name of Yukgoejeong comes from the fact that during the Gimiosahwa in the 14th year of King Jungjong’s reign in the Joseon Dynasty, six scholars, including Eom Yong-sun, who had been exiled, created a pond in front of the pavilion and planted six zelkova trees.

As we passed Yukgaejeong and got closer to the cornelian cherry grove, the cornelian cherry blossoms in full bloom began to show off their beauty.

This is a view of a cornelian cherry grove. The scenery of cornelian cherry blossoms turning the wide foothills yellow is as beautiful as a scene from a fairy tale.

So far, I have written about the Icheonbaeksa Cornelian Cherry Blossom Festival. I think this is the first time I have been surrounded by so many cornelian cherry blossoms. The yellow flowers were even more dazzling in the spring sunlight.

In addition to cornelian cherry blossoms, there were various foods and things to enjoy, so it was a fairly large festival. I think it is a festival that you should definitely visit in the spring.