Gumi is awash in ramen as its festival becomes a smash hit

【Financial News Gumi=Kim Jang-wook, reporter】Downtown Gumi is being transformed by ramen. In particular, crowds eager to enjoy ramen are bringing the city center to a fever pitch.
The 2026 Gumi Ramyun Festival, which opened on the 6th, drew huge crowds from its first day, filling the festival grounds with visitors. From the outset, the festival attracted keen interest, with the queue of visitors hoping to buy freshly fried ramen at Nongshim’s Godland stretching about 500 meters.
Mayor Kim Jang-ho stressed, “The Gumi Ramyun Festival is a festival unique to Gumi that connects local industry, agriculture and food culture through ramen, a familiar part of everyday life. For the remaining days, too, we will do our utmost to run the festival so visitors can enjoy it safely and conveniently, and experience the old downtown and local businesses as well.”
On the festival’s first day, visitors continued to arrive to sample ramen and enjoy the various programs. The Gumi Ramyun Festival noodles, made using Gumi Milgari—a co-brand of 100% Korean-grown wheat jointly created by the city, local farmers and small-business owners—and distinctive ramen dishes presented by local restaurants drew interest.
This year’s festival features 33 food establishments in total, including 25 ramen restaurants and eight ramen trucks. Visitors can enjoy a range of ramen dishes, from distinctive options such as fresh chambok pufferfish ramen and mountain-style ramen with matsutake and neungi mushrooms to international noodle dishes. At Nongshim’s Godland, visitors can find freshly fried ramen and other unique ramen-related attractions.
The layout has also been changed to make the festival more convenient for visitors. The main stage was scaled down to expand the dining area, and performances were spread across the Kitchen Studio, the rear plaza of Gumi Station and the Nonghyup parking lot, among other venues. Convenience services such as QR-code ordering and KakaoTalk wait alerts have also been introduced to make buying food and getting around the festival easier.
The final of the 2026 Gumi Global Ramyun Challenge is taking place on the 7th. Thirteen people from 13 countries, selected from among 1,263 participants in the online preliminaries representing 80 countries around the world, are competing with ramen dishes that showcase their countries’ food cultures and distinctive character.
The Geumosan Kids Festival with Bread Barbershop is also taking place on the same day at the Geumosan lawn plaza, featuring performances and hands-on programs for children and families.
A Gumi Ramyun pop-up train and various tourism-linked programs will also be run to spread the enjoyment of the festival throughout Gumi.
Now in its fifth edition, the Gumi Ramyun Festival will run for three days through the 8th, showcasing Gumi’s distinctive ramen offerings along with a range of performances and hands-on programs. After drawing 350,000 visitors last year, the festival has expanded its dining areas and event offerings this year and strengthened its transport and tourism links as it prepares to welcome visitors.

[email protected] Kim Jang-wook Reporter