The Seoul International Fireworks Festival is an annual event that takes place at the Han River. I learned about the festival when I saw photos of last year’s event on Facebook and was excited to finally get to see it for myself. There were several places to watch the fireworks along the river, but the best place was in front of the 63 Building.
The fireworks started at 7:30 pm so I decided to get there a few hours early to find a nice spot. To my surprise, the whole place was already covered in tents! People had staked out their spots starting as early as 6am in the morning! People were sitting on whatever space they could find be it on rocks, walls, or steep hillsides. I found a small space between the tents with my friend and we ate an early dinner and played cards while we waited for the event. Once it got dark and the tents came down there was more room for people to squeeze in. After an opening commentary they had a countdown to set off the first of the fireworks!
It was a glorious night! It was really nice just get out there and forget about all the stressful things in life and fill it with color. There were a surprising range of fireworks and they were all well choreographed to the music. It was almost a shame that I had to stay sitting down, I felt like getting up and dancing! I hope to see the festival again next year and will make sure I get there bright and early. Do you have any fireworks festivals near you?
