Home › Festivals › Chungjang Street Festival of Recollection
Chungjang Street Festival of Recollection
- 📅 Dates
- Oct 7, 2026 – Oct 11, 2026
- 📍 Location
- 226-22, Geumnam-ro, Dong-gu, Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City
- 🎫 Admission
- Free
- 🕘 Hours
- 14:00-22:00
- 🎪 Venue
- Geumnam-ro, Chungjang-ro, May 18 Democracy Square, and Art Street
- 🏛️ Organizer
- Gwangju Dong-gu, Dong-gu Culture & Tourism Foundation, Chungjang Festival Organizing Committee
- ☎️ Contact
- +82-62-608-4672
⚠️ This festival's listed dates have passed
The dates above are from the most recent official schedule. Many Korean festivals are annual events held around the same time each year, but the next date has not been officially confirmed yet — please check the official website or a Google search below before planning a trip.
Overview
The Chungjang Street Festival of Recollection is Gwangju’s largest signature festival, originating on Chungjang-ro in Dong-gu. Built around the universal theme of memories, it is Korea’s first festival of its kind, bringing together people of all generations and backgrounds. Geumnam-ro and May 18 Democracy Square, the festival’s main venues, hold profound significance in the history of democracy. They symbolize not only remembrance of the past but also Gwangju’s journey toward a hopeful future. Recognized for its excellence, the festival has been designated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports a
Source: Korea Tourism Organization (official English translation, TourAPI).
What happens at Chungjang Street Festival of Recollection
- Opening Show
- Administrative District Parade Symbol Exhibition
- Asia Culture Street
- Asia Culture Show
- Happiness & Passion Hanmadang
- Chungjang Glow Night
- Rice Ball Competition
- Five-District Daedong Nori
- Special Invitational Parade
- Residents’ Festival
- Competitions & Administrative District Parade
Official programme as registered with the Korea Tourism Organization for the most recent edition. Details can change — check with the organizer before you go.
🇰🇷 Copy this into Naver Map or Kakao Map
Google Maps cannot give walking or transit directions inside Korea — Korean law restricts map-data export. Naver Map and Kakao Map can, but they find far more when you search in Korean. Copy and paste:
📊 How busy this area gets
Visitor-volume index for 동구, from Korea Tourism Organization big data. 1.00 = that area's own yearly average, so this compares the area against itself — not against Seoul.
Oct — 1.02 · quietest of the months we have
The index covers the whole district, not the festival ground itself. Use it to pick a month, not a day. · Aug 1.02 / Aug 1.02
🅿️ Nearby attractions — with actual parking capacity
Most sites only say "parking available." These are official figures from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, so you can judge before you drive.
Names and addresses here stay in Korean on purpose. Google Maps cannot give directions inside South Korea, and NAVER Map / KakaoMap find these places only under their Korean names — copy an address above and paste it straight in.
🏮 Traditional market days during the festival
Korean country markets open only on days ending in fixed digits — every 5 days. These are the actual dates they open while the festival runs, so you can add one to the same trip.
Names and addresses here stay in Korean on purpose. Google Maps cannot give directions inside South Korea, and NAVER Map / KakaoMap find these places only under their Korean names — copy an address above and paste it straight in.
🎪 Other festivals nearby at the same time
Overlapping dates, within 60 km.
Nearby Attractions
Places near the festival venue, described in English by the Korea Tourism Organization. Distances and times are road-based driving estimates from NAVER route search — useful for taxi trips — and can change with traffic. Places under 1 km in a straight line are marked “walkable”. Anything more than 15 km away by road is left out.
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Gwangju Wongaksa Temple원각사(광주 Attraction0.1 km straight · walkable
Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City Wongaksa Temple, a branch temple of Suncheon Seonggwangsa Temple, is part of the Jogye order of Korean Buddhism in…
Korean address for map apps광주광역시 동구 중앙로 197 -
May 18 Democratic Uprising Archives5•18민주화운동 기록관 Cultural facility0.1 km straight · walkable
The May 18 Democratization Movement was a righteous uprising by citizens that took place in Gwangju for ten days from May 18 to 27 in 1980. The May 18 Democratic…
Korean address for map apps광주광역시 동구 금남로 221 -
Chungjang-ro Hong Kong Alley충장로 홍콩골목 Attraction0.2 km straight · walkable
Hong Kong Alley is a themed street located in the heart of Chungjang-ro, Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City. Stepping in feels like walking through the night…
Korean address for map apps광주광역시 동구 충장로3가 43 -
May 18 Democracy Square5.18 민주광장 Attraction0.2 km straight · walkable
Stretching from the former Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City Government Office to the Geumnam-ro area, this famous plaza is where the landmark May 18th…
Korean address for map apps광주광역시 동구 문화전당로 38 -
Gwangju Cinema광주극장 Cultural facility0.3 km straight · walkable
Gwangju Cinema is an art and independent film theater that began operations in 1935 and continues to this day. It is the only single-screen theater remaining in the…
Korean address for map apps광주광역시 동구 충장로46번길 10
Google Maps cannot provide driving or transit directions inside South Korea. Paste the Korean addresses above into NAVER Map or KakaoMap — both work with these addresses and are what people here actually use.
Other festivals in
Taking the trip home
A small Korean brand called kory puts city names on everyday things — hair rollers, hair ties, claw clips, scarves.
We help make kory, so this is not a paid placement — but it is a link we have an interest in. That is why it sits here at the bottom and nowhere else. Product pages and the shop home are in English; a few other pages there are still Korean only.