What’s Going On?

Sunday, marked the end of the Cherry Blossom Festival for 2009. It was a great festival this year. The weather was just amazing, clear skies beyond what the eye could see; however, the heat was just intense for a mid-April event. The temperature ranged around the 70s to low 80s. It felt a lot hotter though with the sun beaming down on you.

On Saturday at the festival there was a display of import cars. All types of import cars were on display with fixed up engines and other cosmetic improvements. The one car that seemed more flashy than any other car on the Post St. was a car that was furnished and fixed up with a Hello Kitty theme. The car attracted so much attention that people gathered all day just to take a glimpse and picture of it, myself included. Lined up on Post St. from Webster to Buchanan Sts. were informative booths and vendor booths. A few of the booths seemed to me not as flashy as in previous years, but nonetheless having the booths there gave me more comfort in knowing that I was at a festival. Food booths were probably the most visited attraction of the festival. What is a day at the Cherry Blossom Festival if you’re not endulging yourself in the one of many Japanese Cultured dishes or even the Americanized foods? Once you get your food, there are two grandstands that you can go to for live music and entertainment. Webster and Post St. was the hub of live jazz, soul, and funk music. This year the bands were phenominal and I really mean great. They played stuff that I so love and bring me back to my youth, while listening to it while my dad drove his old car.

Sunday at the festival marked the last day and nothing better could end the festivities at the festival than with a Grand Parade. The parade’s grand marshall was noneother than George Takei who played Lt. Hikaru Sulu of the original Star Trek series. Thousands of people showed up lining the streets to watch as the parade passed from Civic Center, through the heart of Japantown and ending at Fillmore and Post St. One thing I advise for future parades at the festival is bring something to sit on because you may either be sitting on the sidewalk curb or you may be standing for two hours.

Not only has my experience this year at the festival been fun, but it was just a great place to meet people and learn up on culture. I think next year I will partake in attending the tea ceremonies and other folk dance workshops to learn a little bit more about the Japanese culture and traditions.