Namyangju’s Dasan Jeong Yak-yong Culture Festival is built around one person: Jeong Yak-yong (pen name Dasan, 1762-1836), the late-Joseon scholar associated with the Silhak, or “practical learning”, school. The festival takes place where he was born and spent his last years, at the Jeong Yak-yong Historic Site and Dasan Ecological Park in Joan-myeon, Namyangju. The official page says the festival has run since 1986 and calls it Namyangju’s flagship festival, which makes 2026 the 40th edition.
Update, 17 October: the festival is going ahead; we found no postponement, cancellation or date change. Two things changed since this guide was first written: the opening ceremony on Saturday has been moved to 15:00 (it was previously held in the morning), and the weather forecast has heavy rain arriving on Sunday (see below).
For 2026 the confirmed dates are Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October, 10:00-17:30, and admission is free according to KTO. The city expects about 18,000 visitors. The festival’s 2026 slogan, as reported in local news, is “The Dasan who designed an era, innovating today”, and the programme leans on that: robots and AI sit next to a memorial rite and traditional games.
What you actually do here
The core of the weekend is a mix of ceremony, stage programmes, contests and hands-on activities spread across two sites a short distance apart: the historic site, which holds the Yeoyudang birthplace house, Jeong Yak-yong’s grave, a cultural hall and a memorial hall, and Dasan Ecological Park, listed at 767 Dasan-ro.
KTO groups the programme into five parts: official and commemorative events, stage performances, contests, hands-on programmes, and a market with food booths. You do not need a plan to enjoy it; wandering between the two sites and picking up whatever is running is a legitimate way to spend a day. If you want one specific item, such as the fashion show or the concert, you need the day-specific schedule; only the opening ceremony time (15:00 on Saturday) was found, so see the programme section below.
Programme and timetable
The official programme is, by category:
- Official events: flower offering and tea rite (헌화·헌다례), the opening ceremony with a musical gala show titled “Dasan, a Star on the Water”, a special fashion show for the 40th anniversary, and an anniversary concert.
- Performances: the Joseon Wanderers troupe (조선유랑단), a music drama called “Songs of Twelve Months”, a Dasan tribute concert, busking by young musicians and street artists, and a children’s performance.
- Contests: a Jeong Yak-yong robot-creation contest, a literary contest and “Challenge! Top Scholar” (도전! 장원급제), a children’s take on the old civil-service exam.
Three timed or dated items are confirmed. On Saturday 17 October the opening ceremony starts at 15:00: news reports from 13 October say organisers moved it from the morning to encourage wider attendance. It is followed by the musical gala show and, that day, designer Lee Sang-bong’s 40th-anniversary fashion show is listed. On the afternoon of Sunday 18 October the anniversary concert features Eokseu (억스), Park Hye-won (HYNN) and Urban Zakapa. No exact start time was found for the fashion show or the concert, and we did not find a full day-by-day grid. Phone 031-590-2799 before you commit to a particular hour.
News reports also call the mission-style treasure hunt “Dasan’s Last Disciple” (다산의 마지막 제자); KTO lists it as “Yeoyudang Hunters”. It appears to be the same activity, but the sources do not say so outright. Separately, Namyangju’s mayor said on 15 October that the Jeong Yak-yong memorial hall has reopened this year; we did not find its opening hours.
Contests and the robot programme
The robot contest is the clearest example of how this edition ties the history to current themes. News reports from early September say it is a family contest pairing Dasan’s practical-learning spirit with robotics, held at the historic site on 17 and 18 October, with participation by recruited elementary-school family teams (60 teams were reported). Participants applied in advance, so for most visitors this is something to watch rather than join.
The same applies to the literary contest and “Challenge! Top Scholar”. Earlier editions of the festival opened these through advance recruitment on the official homepage; whether any 2026 slots remain is not something the sources confirm, so do not plan on joining without checking.
Hands-on activities and markets
For visitors who want something to do with their hands, KTO lists “Yeoyudang Hunters”, a mission-style treasure hunt around the grounds; a “digital detox exile experience”; the “Jeong Yak-yong Future Workshop”, where robots and AI are introduced; a large model of the geojunggi crane Jeong Yak-yong is associated with; traditional games; hanbok dressing; a tea space called Dasan Dawon; and a photo zone.
The market side includes Dasan Farm Market, a Jeong Yak-yong brand-partner pop-up zone, a shop named Yeoyudang Sangjeom, and food booths. KTO does not list individual vendors, prices or payment methods, and card acceptance was not checked here, so carry some cash as a precaution rather than a rule.
The setting: Yeoyudang and the historic site
The historic site is not a stage set built for the festival. The official page describes it as the place with Yeoyudang, the house where Jeong Yak-yong was born and raised, together with his grave and the cultural and memorial halls. Namyangju City lists the site’s regular hours as 09:00-18:00 with last entry at 17:30, closed on Mondays and on certain holidays, and entry as free. The festival falls on a Saturday and Sunday, so the Monday closure does not apply, but the festival’s own listed hours of 10:00-17:30 are the ones to use.
The site sits in a rural, hilly part of Joan-myeon. That makes the approach road, not the festival grounds, the likeliest place to lose time.
Tickets, fees and booking
There is no general admission ticket. KTO and the official listing give admission as free, and you can simply turn up. Whether any individual hands-on programme or contest needs a booking or fee is not stated in the sources found, and the official site has used advance sign-up for some earlier experience programmes. If you want one specific workshop, ask the organiser rather than assuming it is open to walk-ins. The contact is Namyangju City’s Jeong Yak-yong Division on 031-590-2799; KTO also lists a mobile number, 010-7275-0794.
Getting there without a car
The festival’s own directions page gives this route: take the Gyeongui-Jungang Line to Ungilsan Station, then bus 58 to the Jeong Yak-yong Historic Site. The page lists route 58 as running Hwado, Maseok, Ungilsan Station and the historic site, with weekend intervals of roughly 25 to 60 minutes.
A second route on the same page starts at Paldang Station, using village bus 63 or the Thank-You bus 58-3, then a walk of about 15 minutes from the Dasan entrance. Those buses are far less frequent: the page puts route 63 at one every 150 to 220 minutes, and 58-3 at 40 to 140 minutes on weekends.
Sources do not agree on bus numbers. Namyangju City’s heritage page for the site lists 167, 56 and village buses 63 and 99-2 near the Sujongsa entrance, while the festival page uses 58 from Ungilsan Station. Follow the festival page, then confirm in a Korean map app on the day. This guide could not verify a Seoul-to-Ungilsan travel time, so it gives none; check your own start station in a journey planner.
Parking, shuttles and traffic control
News reports published on 13 October, based on the city’s announcement, say shuttle buses run about every 20 minutes to the venue, calling at Ungilsan Station. The reports disagree slightly on where else they start: Incheon Ilbo names the Water Garden (Joan No. 3 public car park), while Newspim names the Joan-myeon sports park. Check the shuttle timetable on the festival’s website for the exact pick-up point.
The city says parking around the site is narrow and recommends public transport or the shuttle. Incheon Ilbo reports that 265 spaces were added to the existing 418, which is still small against about 18,000 expected visitors. We found no road-closure notice.
If you drive, treat the shuttle car parks as the plan and expect delays on the approach road. Note the last shuttle time when you arrive; it was not published in what we found.
Weather: Saturday dry, Sunday wet
Forecasts reported on 16 October (Segye Ilbo, Inews24) agree. Saturday 17 October is clear and mild, with highs of 21-27°C, though morning fog was forecast in parts of eastern Gyeonggi. On Sunday 18 October rain starts early in the morning in Incheon and northern Gyeonggi and spreads, with 30-80 mm forecast for the Seoul area and gusts of about 55 km/h. We did not find a rain plan from the city for the outdoor stages or the Sunday concert, and no cancellation. If Sunday is your only free day, bring a rain jacket and phone 031-590-2799 or check the official page that morning.
Local specialty
Namyangju City lists seven official specialty products: strawberries, Chinese chives, the meokgol pear, mulberries, maple sap, perilla leaves and mountain ginseng. The pear is described by the city as refreshing and juicy and has been exported since 1997. The city says it is produced year-round by about 500 farms, which is a production claim and not a statement about autumn availability. This is a regional product, not something the festival is confirmed to sell.
Honest assessment
The festival’s strength is its location and its purpose. It is staged on the ground where the person it honours lived, it is free, and the programme gives children and adults separate things to do. The 40th-anniversary lineup of a fashion show and a concert is also unusually concrete for a free local festival.
The weaknesses are practical. The published programme is in Korean, and English support was not checked. A full 2026 timetable was not found beyond the Saturday 15:00 opening. Public transport works but is infrequent, parking is limited, and you reach the site by a rural road that is likely to be crowded. Sunday’s forecast is heavy rain, which matters for an outdoor concert. Several attractions, the robot contest among them, are for pre-registered participants, so as a visitor you will mostly watch.
If the weather is the deciding factor, Saturday is the safer day, and arriving in the early afternoon lets you catch the 15:00 opening. Check the official page again on the morning you go. For an event this tied to its location, a visitor who likes history and open-air weekends will get the most from it.
