Gimcheon City in Gyeongbuk (North Gyeongsang Province) said it has announced operational improvements ahead of the '2026 Gimcheon Gimbap Festival', to be held for 3 days from October 23 to 25 across Jikji Culture Park, Samyeongdaesa Park and Chinhwangyeong Saengtae Park (Eco-Friendly Ecological Park). The measures respond to the long waiting times and transport inconvenience criticised at previous festivals, and to suspected gimbap (seaweed rice roll) food poisoning cases that recently arose at events held by other local governments.
The festival, first held in 2024, was assessed as having caused inconvenience in its first year due to gimbap shortages, long waiting times and inadequate shuttle bus operations. At last year's 2nd edition, crowds of visitors also meant that in some cases people had to wait more than 1 hour to buy gimbap, according to reports.
To reduce queues, the city is introducing a QR code-based ordering and payment system together with Kakao Pay. Visitors scan QR codes placed around the venue with their smartphones to order and pay, receive a notification via KakaoTalk when their food is ready, and collect it at a designated pickup booth. On-site kiosk booths and guides will also be provided for older people and others who have difficulty using smartphones. However, some reports pointed out that queues could form again if orders concentrate at particular booths or cooking is delayed, and that pickup routes and order-handling capacity would determine the system's actual effectiveness.
Food safety is also an issue. After suspected gimbap food poisoning cases recently occurred at events held by other local governments, the city decided, jointly with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, to inspect all ingredients at gimbap sales booths and carry out rapid food poisoning tests on site throughout the 3 days of the festival. A full inspection of participating vendors' ingredients and their origins has already been completed, and mobile hand-washing sinks and hand sanitiser will be available at the venue at all times. Vendors will be given hygiene management guidelines in advance.
The city has promoted a '4 No's festival' (4무), with no ceremonial protocol, no opening ceremony, no price gouging and no long queues. It plans to skip formal protocol and the opening ceremony, and to check in advance the ingredients, weight and origin of the food participating vendors will sell, to ensure that the food offered is worth its price.
Measures to spread out visitors and for transport have also been prepared. The festival period has been extended from 2 days to 3 days and the venue expanded to include Chinhwangyeong Saengtae Park. Shuttle buses have been increased to about 60, and a new demand-responsive tourist transport service, 'Sopung Taxi' (picnic taxi), will operate. Together with Kakao Mobility, round-trip shuttle buses will run between the festival site and Seoul, Daejeon, Busan and Gwangju. An additional 5 women-only toilet units will be installed at 3 locations, and a luggage storage service and a dedicated KakaoMap map service will also be provided. Inquiries can be made to Gimcheon City (054-420-6714).
The detailed schedule is available on the festival details page.