From Siheung Breaking Battle to Youth Day busking, Meong-set Festival and Little Prince romance

Festivals for those clinging to the fading summer and those welcoming the coming autumn will unfold across Siheung this weekend. Events range from the Siheung Breaking Battle, featuring some of the country's top dancers, to a lantern festival beneath Soraesan mountain offering a full dose of summer-night romance. Visitors can eat, watch, experience and share time together — all in Siheung.

Riding the beat to Eungye Lake Park: the Siheung Breaking Battle, a leading Korean dance festival

2025 Siheung Breaking Battle
2025 Siheung Breaking Battle

The Siheung Breaking Battle, a leading Korean dance festival now in its fifth year, lands at Eungye Lake Park this weekend. The competition combines crew battles among the country's top B-boys with a youth kids competition and citizen-participation programs, forming a breaking culture festival. Organizers expect fierce competition, since the event offers dancers their last chance to showcase their skills ahead of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

A total of eight crews will compete, including defending champion Jinjo Crew, Twenty Century B-boys, Reverse Crew, Flow Excel, MB Crew, Platon Crew, Pocket & Leon and Bears Us Crew. The festival has also introduced a kids competition for the first time to nurture future talent. In the kids division, split into B-boy and B-girl categories, Song Min-chan, Lee Ga-bin, Lee Si-yeon and Yoon Ye-seo will compete.

Adding to the excitement this year is a congratulatory performance by Holly Bang, the champion of Street Woman Fighter season 1 and one of South Korea's leading hip-hop dance crews. It is a rare chance to see performances by well-known dancers such as Honey J and Jane in person.

The competition begins at 6 p.m., but visitors can join various hands-on programs starting at 1 p.m. Face painting, street hairstyling, temporary tattoos and photo zones let attendees enjoy breaking and street culture together.

"Youth, always sunny": Youth Day events, from busking to policy forums

Last year's Youth Day event, "Youth Signal in Siheung"
Last year's Youth Day event, "Youth Signal in Siheung"

In the second week of September, Siheung becomes a festival ground of, for and by young people. The Siheung City Youth Foundation will run Youth Week from Monday through Sunday to mark Youth Day, capping it off with the Youth Day festival on Saturday at Grantree Castle in the Central Dome, Eunhaeng-dong.

Held under the theme "Youth's today becomes Siheung's tomorrow," the event is designed as a festival where young people plan and take part directly while interacting with the local community.

The biggest feature of Siheung's Youth Day event is that a youth festival planning task force took part directly in everything from program planning to operations, infusing the entire event with young people's ideas and sensibilities. Members of Siheung's youth clubs and organizations, entrepreneurs, and cultural and arts figures have joined forces since July to prepare for the event.

That day, the entire Central Dome will transform into a hub for Siheung's youth. Booths run by youth clubs, hands-on experiences and exhibitions, a flea market with a book cafe, and one-day classes will fill the day for young visitors.

At the youth club booths — 27 in all — visitors can explore Siheung's best restaurants with Club 500 and Ipsomunnatdan; try a self-discovery activity with Artist Way; make sea-glass upcycled keyrings with Eopueopu; take polaroid photos with Iktus; join sports activities with Byeongari Crew, Pink Dumbbell and MVP; and play mini games with robots built by MECHA_LAB.

The performance lineup is packed as well, with four shows scheduled that day. Starting at 3:30 p.m., a brass band will open with a performance, followed by congratulatory performances from Siheung's culture and arts youth and youth groups such as Cheongmunham. At 7 p.m., Haengju, Black9 and Marine will invite young people into an exciting world of hip-hop.

Also worth seeing is a flea market run by Siheung's young cultural and arts figures and companies based at the Youth Collaboration Village. In addition, agencies including the Siheung City Youth Foundation, the Siheung Mental Health Welfare Center and the Siheung Employment Welfare Plus Center will present youth policies in various ways.

Those unable to attend that day can instead join Youth Week events held across Siheung from Monday through Sunday. At the Daeya-dong Youth Station, a psychological rest exhibition titled "Cheong Screening" will help ease young people's daily worries and stress and offer a chance to recharge. On Wednesday, "Youth Busking" will take place at the Baegot central commercial district, and on Thursday, a policy forum themed "Making Siheung a City Where Young People Want to Stay" will be held at the Youth Collaboration Village.

The keywords for Geobuk Island's romance: the Little Prince, summer nights and Meong-set

The Little Prince on Geobuk Island
The Little Prince on Geobuk Island

This week, Geobuk Island is filled with romance from day to night. Visitors can tour the planet of the Little Prince and the Lamplighter, or enjoy a sunset festival with their dogs on the island. Those reluctant to let go of summer nights can lose themselves in the thrill of a night festival at Miocosta after dark.

The Meong-set Festival, now in its third year, will be held Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. at the plaza in front of Wave Park on Geobuk Island. Programs to enjoy with dogs against the backdrop of the island's sunset include a dog olympics, a pet fashion show, a special lecture by dog trainer Lee Woong-jong, and a Meong-set walk with photo opportunities.

The Miocosta Summer Night Festa, which heated up Geobuk Island all summer, has four sessions left: Saturday, Sunday and Sept. 19 and 20. From 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., visitors can enjoy summer night water play in the illuminated, rippling waves of the wave pool. Admission is 2,000 won ($1.50) for Siheung residents and 5,000 won for everyone else.

The "Little Prince Comes to Geobuk Island — Planet of the Lamplighter" event will also be held Saturday from 3 to 9:30 p.m. around Lagoon Lake on Geobuk Island. It brings the story of the lamplighter, who quietly lights his lamp at his post, to the island, carrying the message that "small lanterns gathering together light up a city." Ballet, contemporary dance, vocal performances and tap dance will take the stage in Geobuk Island's commercial spaces, along with a "Little Prince Lantern Hanbok Fashion Show" combining light and hanbok. Visitors can also enjoy more than 26 performance, exhibition and hands-on programs, including tarot readings themed on six asteroids, a giant rose photo zone, and a game zone.

At the threshold of autumn, Daeya-dong glows with lanterns

For two nights, Friday and Saturday, Daeya-dong's evenings will be lit up with lanterns. At Daeyasam 2 Children's Park, residents will present lantern exhibitions, cultural performances, hands-on activities and programs tied to local merchants that they planned and created themselves. The festival shines especially bright after dark, with light sculptures and a lantern tunnel photo zone as its biggest draws. A lineup of performances is also planned, featuring trot singer Na Tae-ju and ballad singers Lee Ji-hoon and Song Ji-woo, along with sand art performances and a musical. The festival will also run a receipt-verification event for shops in the alley district to help boost local business.


pjh@heraldcorp.com