The 2025 Gimcheon Kimbap Festival, now in its second year, drew a crowd of 80,000 people on the first day alone, according to reports on the 26th.
On this day, Gimcheon City in North Gyeongsang Province said it estimates that 80,000 visitors came on the first day alone to the two-day festival held the previous day in and around Jikjisa Culture Park and Samyeongdaesa Park.
As large crowds also flocked to the festival on day two, Gimcheon City sent out two safety alert texts in the morning alone stating, "Heavy crowds and traffic congestion expected at the kimbap festival; private vehicles are restricted from entering the venue."
Visitors must take shuttle buses from Gimcheon Sports Town, the Green Future Science Center, the KTX station, Gimcheon City Hall, and Gimcheon Station to reach the venue.
It also limited kimbap purchases per booth to four rolls per person.
Initially, the city expected 100,000 visitors to attend the festival over two days this year, but as throngs formed from the morning of the first day, it provided notices about kimbap being sold out.
Festival participants left comments on Gimcheon City's official social media (SNS) such as, "Even though the waiting line and the flow of foot traffic are a mess, the event conditions are much better than last year," "The shuttle bus line is suffocatingly long. Those at intermediate stops can't even board and are just waiting," "Can we still go take photos after the event ends?", and "It's traffic hell. The festival days should be extended to spread out demand."
This year's festival features not only kimbap from local businesses but also more than 50 varieties, including the "walnut mayo spicy pork kimbap," which won the Gimcheon Kimbap Cooking Contest, kimbap from national franchise chains, and frozen kimbap familiar to foreigners.
Meanwhile, Gimcheon City planned the kimbap festival after hearing Millennials and Gen Z, a key driver of tourism trends, answer "Kimbap Heaven" to the question, "What image comes to mind when you think of Gimcheon?"