Donghae Mureung Festival
🗓️ 2026.09.17 ~ 2026.09.20
Overview
The 39th Donghae Mureung Festival, Donghae City’s representative traditional culture festival, runs for four days from September 17 to 20, 2026, around the Donghae Wellbeing Leisure Sports Town and the Donghae Culture and Arts Center. This year’s theme is “United Citizens, Newly Leaping Donghae City,” with the aim of expanding citizen participation, revitalizing the local economy, and creating a cultural tourism festival where tradition and modernity harmonize.
The festival is structured around ritual events, performance events, folk culture and art events, experience promotion events, and planned events. Featured programs include the Sansinje (Mountain God Ritual) and Pungnyeonje (Harvest Festival), the opening celebration performance, the Generation Empathy Concert, the Donghae Song Festival, the Donghae Youth Dance Festival, and performances by local professional artists and the municipal choir. The lineup also spans generations through the Navy Band and Honor Guard, the 1st Mountain Brigade’s special forces martial arts demonstration, and folk performances such as Mangsang Nongak and Bukpyeong Wonnim Dapgyo Nori.
For hands-on participation, experience promotion halls will cover traditional folk games, workshop experiences, and health check-ups. A children’s experience center adds family-friendly programs involving traditional games, maritime safety, and sports.
A new program, “A Bite of Donghae Taste,” lets visitors taste and vote for representative menus from local restaurants. The festival also connects with the Donghae Sale Festa to support local commercial districts, while food sales areas, traditional markets, and a Cheongsachorong (traditional lantern) light tunnel will enhance both the festival atmosphere and its nighttime appeal.
The 39th Donghae Mureung Festival is scheduled to serve as Donghae City’s representative cultural tourism festival, offering citizens and tourists the chance to enjoy expanded programs and experience the region’s traditional culture, food, and art all in one place.
Main Programs
- Sansinje, Pungnyeonje (9.17.)
- Opening Ceremony and Opening Celebration Performance; Navy Band, Honor Guard and Anhui Province (China) Performance (9.18.)
- Club Festival Gathering, Donghae Song Festival, Generation Empathy Concert (9.19.)
- Donghae Youth Dance Festival, Local Professional Artists, Municipal Choir Performance, 1st Mountain Brigade Special Forces Martial Arts Demonstration (9.20.)
Side Programs
- Traditional Folk Game Competition
- Mangsang Nongak, Bukpyeong Wonnim Dapgyo Nori folk performance
- Mureung Art Contest
- Mureung Baekil Poetry and Painting Exhibition
- Scholar’s Stone Exhibition
- Culture and Arts Experience
- Food Experience Hall
- Folk Experience Hall
- Wellbeing Experience Hall
- Planned Experience Hall
- Agency/Organization/Corporate Promotion Hall
- Children’s Experience Hall
Consumer Participation Programs
- A Bite of Donghae Taste
- Donghae Sale Festa
- Donghae Love Receipt Tour
- Traditional Folk Game Experience
- Workshop Experience
- Children’s Traditional Games
- Maritime Safety
- Sports Experience
Other Programs
- Food sales area operated by local food businesses
- Food and sales spaces for local food, multicultural food, traditional liquor, dried fish, and more
- Operation of traditional markets and amusement facilities
- Creation of Cheongsachorong light street and light tunnel
Practical Information
📍 Address: 10 Deokgol-gil, Donghae-si, Gangwon-do (Cheongok-dong)
🛏️ Accommodation near the event
💰 Fee: Free
📞 Inquiry: 033-532-1945
🖥️ Website: dhfesta.or.kr/dmrf/
What is Mureung Valley?
Mureung Valley is a forested gorge in Donghae City, Gangwon Province, South Korea. It runs along the Mureungcheon, a mountain stream that has cut through granite over time. That process has produced broad rock slabs, rounded boulders, and steep cliff faces, with the water dropping at intervals into clear pools. A network of walking paths and wooden footbridges follows the stream, connecting the valley’s main viewpoints without requiring a long or difficult hike. The route is shaded by mature deciduous trees and is suited to a slow walk rather than a strenuous climb.
The valley’s name comes from Mureungdowon, the utopian garden found in classical Korean and East Asian literature. The reference is deliberate but scaled down: Mureung is a real, smaller place named after an imagined one. The combination of water, stone, and woodland does recall the aesthetics of a traditional East Asian garden, but the landscape itself is entirely natural. Seasonal changes affect both the view and the sound of the valley. In spring, the forest is light green; in summer, the canopy is dense and the stream runs fuller; in autumn, the slopes turn red and yellow. By late autumn, the water level drops, exposing more rock and making the pools clearer.
The valley is also the site of the Donghae Mureung Festival, which reaches its 39th year in this edition. The festival was built around the valley and continues to use it directly: outdoor stages sit on level ground near the stream, the walking paths serve as routes between performance areas, and the narrow shape of the gorge dictates the layout of the event. That proximity is what separates it from a performance held in a city park. The performers, the audience, and the surrounding landscape share the same space, and the stream remains audible throughout. For visitors, the valley is not a backdrop to the festival; it is the ground on which the festival is arranged.
