Traditional Japanese treats, live entertainment, arts and crafts, vendors, and more await guests at this year’s Cherry Blossom Festival in Huntington Beach, California, from April 14th through the 16th.
According to organizers, over 70,000 people attended the festival when it last ran in 2019, with more expected this year. The event was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions for several years in a row.
This year’s event includes a “Sakura Night Market,” featuring authentic Japanese and Japanese American fare, though vendors have not yet been announced.
According to the event’s site, the festival’s longest lines have continually been for food, and organizers this year are accommodating crowd appetites at this year’s festival with an expanded list of food vendors to choose from.
In addition to crowd favorite fare, the festival will feature Japanese dance, music, cultural exhibits, arts, crafts, and games including Geisha dancers, vibrant kimono robes, traditional paper craft stations, anime toys, and other Japanese cultural items for sale.
The festival’s history with the city spans back to 1982, according to festival officials, when the city’s relationship with Anjo, Japan was first established.
Held by the Huntington Beach Sister Association, a nonprofit dedicated to maintaining “friendship and cultural tradition” with their sister city in Anjo has hosted the citywide event since its debut in 2014.
The group, which operates annual “international goodwill” programs between the two cities, is an outgrowth of former President Eisenhower’s “People to People” program. Established in 1956, the program was designed to promote cultural exchange between the U.S. and other countries around the globe in an attempt to encourage “enduring peace.”
