112 participants including sanitation workers and residents; videos rack up 3 million views

Seocho-gu District Mayor Jeon Seong-su hopes cleanup becomes a festival tradition reflecting urban character

Sanitation workers and resident volunteers pose for a group photo after completing the Seoripul Cleanup Parade, the closing event of the 2026 Seoripul Music Festival, which wrapped up Sept. 20 in Seocho-gu, Seoul. [Seocho-gu]
Sanitation workers and resident volunteers pose for a group photo after completing the Seoripul Cleanup Parade, the closing event of the 2026 Seoripul Music Festival, which wrapped up Sept. 20 in Seocho-gu, Seoul. [Seocho-gu]

The Seoripul Cleanup Parade, the signature closing act of the Seoripul Music Festival in Seoul's Seocho-gu, is drawing widespread praise again this year, the district announced Friday.

The cleanup parade is a festival program created by Seocho-gu in which sanitation workers transform the post-event cleanup of the festival grounds into a choreographed parade.

Last year, a YouTube Shorts video produced by the district titled "Back to Everyday Life," capturing the cleanup parade, drew about 6 million views and went viral. This year, the district expanded the concept by inviting residents to participate directly, making it the festival's official closing program.

Now in its 11th year, the Seoripul Music Festival ran Sept. 19-20 along a 900-meter stretch of the 10-lane Banpo-daero — between Seocho Station and the Seocho 3-dong intersection — drawing 280,000 visitors in total. Under the theme "Seocho is the Music," the festival featured a diverse lineup of classical, jazz and K-pop performances.

As of 6 p.m. Thursday, a cleanup parade video posted on Seocho-gu's official Instagram account had surpassed 1 million views. A reels video produced by a regional broadcaster crossed 2.3 million views on YouTube. Combined, the two videos have been watched by more than 3 million people.

This year's parade featured 112 participants, including sanitation workers, water-truck drivers and pre-recruited resident volunteers. Five water trucks, 20 Seoripul rapid-response motorcycles and three compact street-cleaning vehicles joined the procession along Banpo-daero to mark the festival's close. Particularly notable was the participation of 32 resident volunteers, which shifted the event's meaning from "a festival where someone else cleans up" to "a festival everyone finishes together."

"If last year's cleanup parade gave citizens an unexpected moment of delight, this year residents joined in directly, adding the significance of citizens shaping the festival from start to finish," Seocho-gu District Mayor Jeon Seong-su said. "I hope the cleanup — the process of returning to everyday life after the festival ends — takes root as a festival tradition that reflects the character of our city."


cook@heraldcorp.com