Chungcheongnam-do

▲ Alley-type night market filled with delicious food and attractions at Yetsalbi

Nonsan City held the grand opening ceremony of "Yetsalbi," a food culture street promoted as part of a project to foster alley-type markets, at Hwaji Jungang Market. Meaning "hometown" in the Korean language, Yetsalbi is a traditional market that warmly welcomes customers during the day and transforms into an alley-type night market filled with a variety of delicious food and attractions at night.

Yetsalbi, a food culture street, was started from a contest organized by the Small and Medium Business Administration with a goal to activate the stagnant traditional markets. It was newly opened following improvements through a one month pilot operation in November of last year.

The night market of Yetsalbit opens every Friday and Saturday from March 30 to the end of November (17:00 - 22:00 in summer and 17:00 - 21:00 in winter). At the opening ceremony held on the 30th, street performances by a Samulnori troupe and acoustic guitar players garnered great response from citizens and merchants that gathered on the food culture street.

In Hwaji Jungang Market, merchants including young people and even foreigners serve around 15 varieties of international cuisine, such as steak, sushi and lamb skewers they have personally prepared. Nonsan-si will organize various events to develop this market as a popular night market where visitors can enjoy a variety of foods and colorful culture.

Nonsan-si has been striving to improve and modernize facilities in five traditional markets by continuously promoting the facility and management modernization project with an investment of KRW 3.4 billion over the last three years. In October last year, Nonsan-si received the Presidential Citation at the "Korea Leading Market EXPO 2017."