This is a guide put together from official announcements, not a review of our own visit — we haven't been yet. Sources: the Paju Cultural Foundation's press release (September 23, 2026) and festival page, the official festival website (home page & FAQ, program and directions pages), and Paju city's 'This Month's Cultural Events' listing, all checked on October 7, 2026. The character illustrations are GPT-generated images.
- Dates
- Sat, Oct 24, 2026 ~ Sun, Oct 25
- Hours
- 11:00–17:00 or until 18:00 (the official website lists both)
- Venue
- Yi I Historic Site, Paju (파주이이유적)204 Jaunseowon-ro, Beobwon-eup, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do (경기 파주시 법원읍 자운서원로 204)
- Fee
- Free admission (some activities may have a fee)
- Organizer
- Paju Cultural Foundation
- Official
- Official notice (Korean) ↗
- Updated
- when we last re-checked the official notice
📅 Schedule at a glance
October 2026
Event daysHighlightsTodayKorean public holidays
Korea Meteorological Administration · 10/17, 2 AM issued · forecasts can change
📌 What's on each day
- 10/24Sat★ Opening Show · Writing & Art · Yuga ProcessionToday
- 10/25Sun★ Family Shows · Reading DayToday
🔁 Daily · 11 walk-in crafts · chestnut dessert booth · Memorial Rite
Yulgok Culture Festival 2026 in Paju — Schedule, Crafts & Getting There Before You Take the Kids to the Yi I Historic Site
It’s the last weekend of October,
with autumn deepening in Paju 🍂
The 36th one this year!
The 36th Yulgok Culture Festival
(제36회 율곡문화제)
runs October 24 (Sat) – 25 (Sun),
two days at the Yi I Historic Site in Paju
(파주이이유적).
We put this together from
the Paju Cultural Foundation’s press release (September 23),
the festival’s official website
and Paju city’s culture & tourism listing.
🎪 What kind of event is it?
Paju’s autumn culture festival
honoring the Joseon scholar
Yulgok Yi I (율곡 이이).
This year’s theme is
’Gyeokmong (擊蒙): Awaken and Begin Again’.
It comes from Yulgok’s best-known book,
Gyeokmong Yogyeol (격몽요결),
and carries the idea of awakening yourself
and opening a new path.
Entry to the festival grounds is free.
Some activities, though,
may charge a fee, the notice says.
⏰ What are the hours?
The opening hours differ
from one official notice to another —
even two spots on the same website
list them differently.
| Where it’s listed | Hours |
|---|---|
| Official website banner ① | 11:00–18:00 |
| Official website banner ② | 11:00–17:00 |
| Paju city’s ‘This Month’s Cultural Events’ | 10:00–18:00 |
By the program schedule, on day one
the writing & art contests start at 10:00.
Whether it ends at 17:00 or 18:00,
a quick call to the Paju Cultural Foundation
(031-950-8424, 8426) before you go will settle it.
✨ What’s on, and when?
Day one centers on the memorial rite and the opening stage,
day two on family shows.
We’ve only put in the table what has a set time.
| Date & time | Program |
|---|---|
| Oct 24 (Sat) 10:00–14:00 | Yulgok Writing Contest & National Yulgok Art Contest — in front of the Yulgok statue |
| Oct 24 (Sat) 11:00–12:00 | Yulgok Yi I Memorial Rite (추향제) — the rite that opens the festival |
| Oct 24 (Sat) 13:00 | Yulgok Cup Baduk (Go) Tournament — main hall, Paju Civic Center |
| Oct 24 (Sat) 15:00–15:10 | Opening — Paju City Boys & Girls Choir |
| Oct 24 (Sat) 16:00–16:30 | Opening celebration concert — KBS Korean Traditional Music Orchestra |
| Oct 25 (Sun) 11:00–12:00 | Shin Saimdang Memorial Rite — honoring Yulgok’s mother |
| Oct 25 (Sun) 12:00–12:30 | Mask play — Lumos Theater’s ‘Chalkak Chalkak’ (‘Click, Click’) |
| Oct 25 (Sun) 12:40–13:10 | Traditional magic show |
| Oct 25 (Sun) 13:20–13:50 | Nongak concert ‘Young-in-jeon’ (영YOUNG인전) — plate spinning (beona) & Korean diabolo (jukbangul) |
| Oct 25 (Sun) | Yulgok Reading Day — humanities talks by Shim Yong-hwan and Song Gil-young |
| Oct 17 (Sat), 23 (Fri), 24 (Sat) | Yuga Procession — Unjeong Lake Park, Geumneung Station, Yi I Historic Site |
The mask play is a stage show
about grandma and grandpa
getting a family photo taken.
The Yuga Procession celebrates
Yulgok placing first in the state exams nine times,
and it’s held three times.
The place and time for each date
haven’t been announced separately yet.
The foundation’s press release
introduces the Baduk tournament
together with the programs on the 25th.
Our table follows the date on the website’s program page.
✂️ What activities are there?
All the regular activities are walk-in (sign up on site).
We’ve sorted the 11 by who they’re for.
| For | Activities |
|---|---|
| Everyone | DMZ mini terrarium · sea-glass phone grip · comb & mirror decorating, keycaps · face painting · shrink-plastic lucky charms · resin mother-of-pearl norigae (hanbok pendant) · hanbok try-on · seonbi traditional tea ceremony |
| Elementary school age and up | Joseon-era ID tag (hopae) making (wood burning) · decorating rubber shoes (gomusin) with hanji paper |
| Whole family together | Family garden making — building a garden through gardening and drama play |
| Yulgok programs (join on site) | Guyong Training Ground (play activities) · Yulgok Tamtam (historic-site tour) |
Feeling peckish? There’s a chestnut dessert booth 🌰
Rice-and-chestnut walnut cakes, chestnut pound cake
and handmade chestnut gelato are on the list.
🚌 Getting there and parking
The official website gives a route
from Munsan Station on the Gyeongui–Jungang Line
that takes two buses.
| Bus | Board → Get off |
|---|---|
| No. 11 | Across from Munsan Station exit 1 → Beobwon Intersection (법원사거리) |
| No. 19-1 | Beobwon Intersection stop (30580) across the road → Jaunseowon (자운서원) |
A shuttle bus is planned.
Details will be posted
in the website’s notices before the festival.
Festival parking information
isn’t in the official notices yet.
👨👩👧 Going with kids
With 11 walk-in activities,
it’s easy to plan a whole day around crafts.
Hopae making and gomusin decorating
are for elementary school age and up.
For younger siblings, look at
the terrarium, phone grips
and face painting.
If you want to catch the shows,
on the 25th (Sun), 12:00–13:50
the mask play → traditional magic → nongak
run back to back.
Hanbok try-on is walk-in too,
so you can tour the historic site in hanbok.
two ways: 17:00 and 18:00
Plan on finishing your activities
before 17:00
⏳ Not announced yet
□ Shuttle bus times & pick-up points
□ Festival parking
□ The fee for each activity
□ Times for Reading Day, Guyong Training Ground & Yulgok Tamtam
□ The rest of the performance lineup
□ Yuga Procession places & times for each date
□ What happens if it rains
None of this is in the official notices yet.
We’ll update this post once it is.
Questions? Call the Paju Cultural Foundation
at 031-950-8424 or 8426.
👍 Recommended for…
✔ Families who want to try lots of crafts
✔ Families who want a taste of tradition
through hopae, hanbok and a tea ceremony
✔ Families looking for a family show
on a Sunday afternoon
From crafts to family shows,
it’s a culture festival where you can spend the whole day without paying admission.
We put this together from official announcements before visiting in person. The character illustrations are GPT-generated images.
🔄 Updates
- One-week check
- First write-up
📎 Sources
- 파주문화재단, 율곡문화제 포스터 및 프로그램 공개 파주문화재단 · 2026.9.23 · 주최
- 율곡문화제 공식 누리집 — 첫 화면·자주 묻는 질문 파주문화재단(율곡문화제) · 주최
- 율곡문화제 공식 누리집 — 프로그램 파주문화재단(율곡문화제) · 주최
- 율곡문화제 공식 누리집 — 오시는 길 파주문화재단(율곡문화제) · 주최
- 2026 제36회 율곡문화제 파주문화재단 · 주최
- 제36회 율곡문화제 (이달의 문화행사) 파주시 문화관광 · 관공서
This is a guide based on official announcements, not a visit review. Schedules, programs and fees can change, so please re-check the official notice before you go.
Translated from our Korean post with AI assistance. Dates, times, fees and other numbers were checked against the Korean original and the official announcements on October 7, 2026. We did not check whether the festival has English signage or English-speaking staff. Original post (Korean)