The Incheon Queer Culture Festival will be held Saturday at Incheon Aetteul, the plaza outside City Hall, after the city approved the venue for the first time since the event began in 2018.
The ninth edition is scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. under the theme “A Rainbow by Your Side.” About 1,900 people are expected to attend the festival and parade, police said Thursday.
The city approved the venue subject to certain conditions, including a ban on tents and other long-term structures on the lawn, protection of existing facilities and compliance with noise limits.
The approval follows a February ruling by the Incheon District Court in favor of the festival organizers, who had sued over the city’s rejection of their 2025 application to use the plaza.
“The organizers sued the city after it denied their request to use the City Hall plaza, and the trial court ruled in their favor. We are appealing the ruling,” a city official told The Korea Herald on Friday.
“We sincerely welcome this decision, achieved by breaking down the walls of an administration that has been discriminatory and contrary to human rights,” the organizers said in a statement on Sept. 30.
The festival was first held in Incheon in 2018.
Saturday’s parade will travel along Namdong-daero and Yesul-ro from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., and along Yesul-ro and Munhwa-ro from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Police plan to deploy 110 personnel to manage traffic and direct vehicles to alternative routes. Traffic advisory banners will also be placed near the festival site and along the parade route. A police official urged visitors to use public transportation, including the subway.
In Seoul, the Queer Culture Festival began using Seoul Plaza in 2015. Organizers moved the event to Euljiro in 2023 after the city gave the plaza to a Christian group’s youth event scheduled for the same day.
The city again denied the festival access in 2024, citing other scheduled events. This year’s parade took place near Jonggak Station in central Seoul on June 13.
yunapark@heraldcorp.com
