Montery Park Cherry Blossom Festival
Date: April 18 & 19, 2009
Location: Barnes Park in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park
Distance from Home: Approximately 20 miles.
Festival Fee: Free
Parking: Free (the park is located in a residential area just off of a more commercial thoroughfare, while there was parking on the street, we had to drive around for a bit to find it and had a short walk from the spot we eventually found to the park itself).
After having lunch with some friends of Courtney’s where the topic of festivals came up and having already seen the morning pass by we found ourselves looking for something close by to wet our festival whistles. Earlier searches had revealed an Avocado Festival in Fallbrook, an Earth Day Celebration in Topanga Canyon, and a Chumash Indian Pow Wow in Malibu. Each of these had something going for it, but ultimately none of them fit the bill. Thankfully after a quick search online we came across just the thing – the Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival. Being fans of the Japanese culture and both harboring a desire to see a Cherry Blossom Festival in Japan we decided this would be our best option. It also didn’t hurt that it was close to home (sorry avocados), not tucked away in the winding roads of a canyon (what were you thinking Earth Day?), and we wouldn’t have to fight beach traffic to get there (I’m looking at you Chumash Pow Wow). With a festival in hand, we hit the road.
Cherry Blossom Logo…
While I was perhaps expecting (or hoping for) a bit more of a Japanese theme, the collection of booths seemed to be split pretty evenly between Japanese or Pacific Rim cultures and the rag tag mix of crafts and goods that seem to show up at all festivals. For each booth selling paper parasols and beaded curtains with Japanese art there were those selling personalized signs and marshmallow guns. For every Teriyaki tent, there was another selling tacos and nachos. Right next to the inflatable Hello Kitty was her good friend Dora the Explorer. We ended up wandering fairly haphazardly around the collection of booths, taking in what each had to offer, hopping back and forth. Overall I wasn’t overwhelmed by the offerings, what little Japanese stuff there was served more to make me think about what wasn’t there, than to delight me with hidden treasures. In the end I ended up wanting to explore some of the local Asian markets more than what was on offer at the festival, which I suppose is one of the goals of a festival in the long run – to get people into and interested in the community that has organized the whole affair.
A sampling of Japanese related goods…
Not really Japanese related goods…
To go along with the various trinkets and morsels on offer there was a tented stage set up with a steady stream of entertainment. While by the stage we caught the tail end of June Kuramoto who was playing a song on koto that I would have sworn was mostly the MASH theme altered just enough to not actually be the theme. We also later caught some young hula dancing students (from local Monterey Park Hula school - Halau Hula Moani ‘a’ ala Anuhea). While a very nice performance, it was a slow enough hula that, combined with the heat of the afternoon, just sort of made us want to go to sleep. I was excited about the prospect of taiko drummers Koshin Taiko who were slated for later in the afternoon but ultimately found that there wasn’t enough to hold my interest in the rest of the festival to keep me around to see them.
It was only on the way out when we found what in my mind was the real heart of the festival. Tucked away from the park inside the gymnasium were a variety of Japanese cultural activities and exhibits. Origami, kimekomi dolls, and ikebana displays mixed in with various entertainment and demonstrations. Immediately upon entering we were drawn to a demonstration of a Japanese Tea Ceremony with its delicate and deliberate movements meant to eliminate unnecessary movement it was fascinating to watch. Having arrived late to the demonstration and with our un-amplified hosts contending with a very amplified musician, it was difficult to make out what was being said, but it was interesting to watch none-the-less. As a bonus, we were also able to sample the tea. It had an interesting flavor, nicely paired with the small sweet red bean cake we had been given, though truth be told I would have preferred to have cake to eat along with the tea rather than a small cake to eat before the tea. The sweetness of the cake disappearing and overpowered by the bitterness of the tea with each sip. It also didn’t help that we were drinking hot tea in a very stuffy and hot gymnasium.
Kimekomi Dolls…
One of the Ikebana…
Along the side of the gym were several tables of photo boards documenting the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II. Here we were given a short tour by a delightful Japanese-American man who told us some of the history and revealed himself to have been the one to take some of the pictures and proudly showing us the camera he used to take the pictures, stating that several people had offered to buy it but he wasn’t selling. While at times he made it sound almost like a summer camp, it was a dark moment in our history and one that I sadly know very little about. It was nice to hear (again with competition from the very loud magician) a little bit of a first hand account of a living history whose days are numbered.
Sampling the Food
As far as food central to the theme of the Cherry Blossom Festival went, there were pretty slim pickings. There was the aforementioned Teriyaki stall, a place offering sushi (which I’m sure was fine but something about raw fish, an outdoor tent, and a rather warm afternoon did not appeal), a stall representing Fugetsu-Do offering Japanese confections (mostly mochi), and – to stretch the theme to its very limits – a Hawaiian shaved ice stall. Having already had lunch and it being rather too early for dinner we decided to go with the confections. It didn’t hurt that red bean paste is a particular favorite. We settled on two rice and red bean concoctions – sakura mochi (sweet pink mochi and red bean paste wrapped in a pickled cherry blossom leaf - it is supposed to look like a cherry) and kashiwa mochi (regular mochi and red bean paste wrapped in an oak leaf - though our leaf may have been fake). Both were interesting and tasty, though neither blew me away and as presented I would be hard pressed to choose a favorite. While I enjoyed the sakura mochi flavor in general, the leaf was a bit salty and I think took away from the overall taste. If I had it to do over again I would have left the leaf off. The kashiwa mochi was rather chewy, though still pleasant.
Sakura Mochi…
Kashiwa Mochi…
Buying a Souvenir
On our first pass through the stalls, nothing really jumped out as being quintessentially “Cherry Blossom” or, failing that like something that I really couldn’t do without. I contemplated some small trinket or another but ultimately didn’t want to get something just for the sake of getting something if it was ultimately only going to sit on a table gathering dust with nary a second consideration. I settled on a t-shirt from Fat Rabbit Farm, a local company started and run entirely by two people (get more info at www.fatrabbitfarm.com). While the shirt was not Cherry Blossom themed or even necessarily Japanese in design, it certainly shares a sensibility with some of the animation that I would think of as particularly Japanese. Failing living up to the theme of the festival, I felt good supporting local artists/merchants with my purchase and got a pretty cool shirt in the process.
Talking to a Local
On our way back out we were drawn into a stall where they were selling handmade soap, drawn by the two very enthusiastic and energetic men who were working the stall. While making our way down the rows of different scents we had a nice, if brief, conversation and learned just a bit about the soap market. Jesse and Noah Scott, a father and son team behind the table, they were relatively new to the soap business, which only started as a byproduct of their main trade. Working a goat farm in Alamo, Nevada where the goats are raised for meat, they began using the milk left when the baby goats were weaned to make gifts of soap for their friends. From there it was a small leap into the commercial production of soap. With all natural ingredients, a nice variety of “flavors” (there were a few that I wanted to take a bite out of), and, according to our soap host, guaranteed to lengthen your shower because they lather so well and just feel good, I felt a second purchase was in order. While taking a couple of the better smelling soaps, I decided to also go with a Japanese Cherry Blossom soap keeping in with the whole theme. I have since used the soap, and while I can’t say that it really lathers more than my normal soap, it does feel good. For more information on the soap, visit their website at www.renaisavonne.com. And admittedly, these weren’t actually locals and I wouldn’t have expected to find goat farmers from Nevada town to set up shop at a small community festival nearly 400 miles from home, though the spirit of the rule still applies.
At the end of the day I would give it three out of five cherries - I think the festival did live up to its promise of providing “a cultural arts event that offers a forum for learning, entertainment, fun, and support of the community.” It was a nice community effort that didn’t pretend to be something that it wasn’t. I enjoyed the Japanese culture that was represented at the festival though would have liked to have seen more. While it was a nice diversion it was not enough to really hold my interest for a full afternoon and left me wanting a bit more Asian culture, which we got by stopping at the Hong Kong Market in Monterey Park, Din Tai Fung Dumpling House in Arcadia, and the Arcadia Super Market – all delightful stops. A smaller, more community driven festival than others I have seen, it could be a good afternoon out for the family (there were some children’s activities that we didn’t really explore) though anyone looking for a serious dose of Japanese culture would probably want to look elsewhere.
Click on photos for larger views.
