Hongcheon Cultural Foundation’s 11th Hongcheon Apple Festival ... 5,000 won off 5-kg boxes

【Financial News, Hongcheon = Kim Gi-seop】Hongcheon’s Tori Forest, just over an hour’s journey from Seoul, will transform for three days starting on the 6th into a late-autumn apple market where visitors can sample and buy apples from 38 farms at discounted prices direct from the growers.
According to the Hongcheon Cultural Foundation on the 2nd, the 11th Hongcheon Apple Festival is being held through the 8th, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, in and around Tori Forest Urban Park in Hongcheon-eup. This year’s slogan is “Hongcheon Apples: A Witch’s Beauty Secret.”
During the festival, 5-kg boxes of apples will be sold for 5,000 won less than their usual retail price. Depending on size, Fuji and Shinano Gold apples cost 30,000–70,000 won, while Gamhong apples cost 35,000–75,000 won. Bags of 2-kg apples are available for 10,000 won. Those who buy apples worth 50,000 won or more can receive a voucher redeemable for two apples. Visitors wearing red, service members in military uniforms and pregnant women will each receive one apple as a bonus. Red accessories and phone cases are not eligible.
Convenience services are also available for visitors coming from far away. A quick-delivery service will carry purchased apples to a pickup booth at Riverside Parking Lot, and a parcel-shipping desk will send them to the address of the customer’s choice, so visitors do not have to carry heavy boxes around. A shuttle bus will also run between Tori Forest, major boarding points in downtown Hongcheon-eup and Riverside Parking Lot.
Hongcheon apples are known for their high sugar content and firm flesh, thanks to the large difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures and the clean growing environment. Visitors can sample the apples at farm booths and choose which varieties and sizes to buy.
There will also be plenty of activities for families on outings. Attractions include a retro arcade, AI robot caricatures, hanging apple-shaped wish lanterns and drone experiences. The stage program features an Apple Song Festival and contests for peeling an apple in one long strip and eating one quickly. Singer Bin Ye-seo will hold a guerilla concert on the 7th, and the final day will feature the Hongcheon Apple King awards ceremony and a raffle.
This year, the Hongcheon County Agricultural Machinery Exhibition and Fair will be held alongside the festival as a supplementary event, where visitors can see and try unmanned weeders, low-profile tractors and wearable robots. They can also enjoy apple treats such as apple pie and apple-filled fish-shaped pastries, as well as local specialties such as Hongchongtteok.
A foundation official said, “It’s an opportunity to sample and buy at lower-than-usual prices apples that local farmers have lovingly grown over the past year.” The official added, “With discounted sales and bonus events, as well as parcel delivery and shuttle buses, we hope visitors will enjoy a relaxed late-autumn outing to Hongcheon and that this will be a festival where farmers and visitors alike leave smiling.”



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