SAN FRANCISCO—On April 9-10, and on April 16-17, San Francisco’s Japantown will be hosting its 49th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival. The festival will be located at Post Street between Laguna and Fillmore Streets. The Grand Parade will take place on Sunday, April 17, beginning at City Hall and ending in Japantown.
The event is free and open to the public to attend. A few special events will require an admission fee. Annually the Cherry Blossom Festival sees more than 200,000 people to celebrate the color and grace of Japanese culture and the diversity of the Japanese-American community. It is the second largest cherry blossom festival outside of Washington D.C., and is held at one of the last three remaining Japantowns in the U.S.
Beginning in 2015 the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival has partnered with the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, located at the Civic Center. The Asian Art Museum is also celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year after originally being opened in Golden Gate Park as a wing of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum. The partnership between NCCBF and the Asian Art Museum emphasizes the significance of Asian culture and traditions to the community.
The festival will contain food booths, a beer garden, vendors, live bands, special events, and groups performing, presenting and demonstrating their arts. Some of the groups that can be seen at the festival include martial arts, origami-the art of paperfolding, and Japanese doll making. Some of the special events are the Queen Program, the golf tournament, and the interactive Sakura 360 area.
For a full schedule of events and more information visit www.sfcherryblossom.org.
