Chuncheon Pet Festival Opens on the 9th, Expanded to Three Days as a Nationwide Festival

[Financial News, Chuncheon—Kim Ki-seop] The Chuncheon Pet Festival is expanding to a three-day schedule, one day longer than last year, and will be held as a nationwide festival.
According to Chuncheon City on the 6th, the 2026 Chuncheon Pet Festival will open on the 9th and continue through the 11th around the Animation Museum in Seomyeon. In line with the longer schedule, the city has significantly expanded its dog sports competitions, industry expo, and cultural and hands-on programs. Building on last year's turnout of about 10,000 visitors, Chuncheon plans to develop this year's festival into a destination event where people from the pet industry and pet owners nationwide come to stay, boosting local spending at accommodations, restaurants, and other businesses.
The centerpiece of the festival is a dog sports competition that has been expanded to one of the largest of its kind in the country.
A total of 300 teams will compete in the Skyhoundz disc-dog international qualifier on the 10th and the national-team agility promotion event on the 11th. On opening day, the 9th, the venue will open early so visitors can watch the athletes train. Haku, a dog that was once kept in a yard on Jeju Island before being taken in by a dog sports athlete and later placing at the Skyhoundz World Canine Disc Championship in the United States, will also compete and is drawing attention.
The festival will also feature a demonstration of flyball, a hurdle relay event rarely seen in South Korea. Alongside a seminar featuring international competitor Andrea Moriset, children's hands-on activities and beginner programs will make dog sports accessible even to visitors experiencing them for the first time.
The industry expo will offer a look at both the present and future of the pet market. Companies in the living, food, technology, cat, and exotic-animal sectors will set up booths, while future-oriented industries such as artificial intelligence, health care, and veterinary medicine will showcase products and services.
Content combining pets and artificial intelligence will be introduced for the first time. The AI Short-Form Video Contest received 79 entries from across the country, including Seoul and the capital region, South Gyeongsang, Chungcheong, Jeolla, Gangwon, and Jeju. The selected works will be screened at the festival.
A wide range of programs is also planned for families. They include three Petlympics events featuring come, stay, and detection-dog categories, as well as dog yoga, pet recreation, a talk concert, a dog-breed encyclopedia, and the Pawprint Golden Bell quiz. A walking event with dogs along Uiamho Lake will be held on the morning of the 11th. Advance-registration programs can be booked on the festival website, while some activities will also accept on-site participants.
An outdoor cinema will open by the lakeside at dusk. Cat Butler, a film about stray cats, will be screened at 5 p.m. on the 9th. At 5 p.m. on the 10th, The Secret Life of Pets will be shown against the backdrop of Seomyeon Lake in partnership with Chuncheon Cine Park.
A city official said, "We designed the three-day festival so that even citizens without pets can fully enjoy activities such as throwing discs with dogs, walking along Uiamho Lake, and watching a movie by the lakeshore." The official added, "We will build it into a festival that pet owners from across the country make a point of visiting every year, with dog sports and the industry expo as its main attractions."

[email protected] Kim Ki-seop Reporter