K-pop concert featuring Cherry Filter, ONEWE and QWER set for Chuseok holiday week
More than 50,000 visitors descended on the 2026 Yeosu World Island Expo on Saturday, organizers said.
About 50,000 people attended a corporate-community event called "Boim Day" on Saturday, the expo's organizing committee said, bringing the cumulative visitor count through that evening to 185,202.
Boim Day was a free-admission event sponsored by Boim Group, a local company based in the Yeosu industrial complex, which contributed 100 million won ($72,400) to open the expo grounds at no charge to Yeosu residents, local workers and their families.
A representative of a restaurant at the expo's "Market Island" zone said the crowds were so large that supplies ran out faster than expected. "We had customers pouring in from the moment we opened, and we ran through our stock much sooner than anticipated," the representative said. "We had been worried about the negative coverage going around lately, but today we clearly felt a different atmosphere."
Throughout the grounds, visitors streamed in and out of food and beverage stores and amenities, while families, couples and groups of friends gathered around exhibition halls, hands-on experience spaces and performance venues, filling the expo with energy.
The organizing committee said the record single-day attendance since the expo's opening has reinvigorated its efforts to reverse a slow start, with the Chuseok holiday week seen as a turning point.
Through the closing day of Nov. 4, the committee will hold a nightly "Wish Boat" event on the waterway of the Island Theme Zone, where visitors can set LED boats carrying written wishes afloat.
A K-pop concert targeting holiday travelers returning home for Chuseok is also planned, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Sept. 26 at the open-air main stage in the Jinmo district on Dolsando island.
The four-member girl group QWER, the five-member boy group ONEWE, and rock band Cherry Filter — known for hits including "Romantic Cat" and "A Duck Flies" — will all perform.
The 2026 Yeosu World Island Expo runs through Nov. 4 at the Jinmo district main venue on Dolsando island in Yeosu, as well as at the Yeosu World Expo site and on the islands of Gaedo and Geumodo.
parkds@heraldcorp.com
