Hongcheon Ginseng and Korean Beef Premium Festival closes today... Last chance to buy fresh ginseng at half price

According to Hongcheon County and the Hongcheon Cultural Foundation on the 11th, the festival, which opened on the 8th at Tori Forest in Hongcheon-eup Urban Forest Park, will wrap up that day with a lucky draw. Anyone who spends at least 50,000 won on ginseng or Korean beef can get a lucky draw ticket at the point of purchase. The drawing will be held at 6 p.m., and winners will receive a red ginseng set or a Korean beef set by delivery.

Discount sales continue through the final day. No. 4 and No. 5 fresh ginseng is being sold at half price, while prices on other ginseng products have also been cut by at least 21%. Korean beef is discounted by 15% or more, depending on the cut and product, with some items up to 50% off.

The half-price sales of fresh ginseng are supported by county funding. As rising ginseng prices led more consumers to tighten their purse strings, the county included 150 million won in discount subsidies in its second supplementary budget. After seeing the impact of spending 120 million won at last year’s festival to sell more than 10 tons of fresh ginseng, it increased this year’s support by 30 million won.

There is still plenty to enjoy beyond shopping. The festival’s signature event—a 10,000-won deal on assorted Korean beef bones—along with experience booths such as a traditional Korean medicine experience and a Ginseng and Hanwoo Cookie Workshop, will be open. Visitors can explore local agricultural and livestock products at the △Hongcheon Neulpureum Hanwoo pavilion △Gangwon Ginseng Agricultural Cooperative pavilion and △Ginseng and Korean Beef Checkoff Promotion and Experience Center. Food stalls offer local specialties such as wild garlic hot dogs and Hongchongtteok, while the agricultural and specialty products market sells Hongcheon-grown shiitake mushrooms, honey, apples and jujubes.

Menus, prices and serving sizes at the festival’s food stalls can be checked in advance through Food Alio on the Korea Tourism Organization’s Korea Travel & Tourism Guide. Shuttle buses running around downtown Hongcheon will make more than 20 trips a day, including that day, and a pet rest area is set up at the gateball court next to the Hanwoo self-service restaurant.