It’s happening on 2 weekends in April!
The Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival will be celebrating its 54th year on the weekends of April 10-11 and 17-18 from 3-5pm. The normally enormous festival started back in 1968 and typically welcomes 220,000 visitors each year to celebrate Japanese culture and enjoy the gorgeous pastel pink bloom.
This year, the festival will be streamed virtually on the aforementioned weekends for free. It will showcase a variety of cultural performers including Okinawan songs by Wesley Ueunten and Nishikawa Ryu Japanese classical dance by Tanchou Nishikawa. There will also be sessions about calligraphy, mochi making, origami, wagashi making, bonsai, and more. Not to mention a demonstration by the Northern California Japanese Sword Club!
#NCCBF54 2021 Virtual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival coming soon!
Watch live from 3:00 to 5:00 pm PT on two weekends, April 10-11 & 17-18 on Facebook Live (https://t.co/uvmYpzVr5C), YouTube Live (https://t.co/AnCok9vJF7), Zoom. Details on https://t.co/3bERjqldv4 #SF pic.twitter.com/zQJnF5dGvj
— Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival 🌸 (@NC_CBF) March 25, 2021
Enjoy footage of the cherry blossom bloom via this livestream on the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival YouTube channel, or go to see the gorgeous blossoms around the city or in the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park.
You can also sponsor or volunteer at the festival to show your support for the Japanese American community of Northern California.
Want to support the Bay Area’s AAPI community even more? Consider donating to one of these 20 local AAPI community organizations.
[Featured Image: Photo by David Maunsell on Unsplash]