The pink blooms all over the city have issued their proclamation: It's time for the Cupertino Cherry Blossom festival.
Three taiko drumming groups and several martial arts demonstrations will be the main attractions at this year's festival, on April 29 and 30, at Memorial Park.
Admission is free to the 17th annual festival, which honors Cupertino's longstanding sister-city relationship with Toyokawa, Japan. The festival runs both days from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cupertino and Toyokawa began as sister cities in 1978, when the Japanese city made a gift of the 200 cherry trees in Memorial Park that will be in full bloom for the festival. Some of the proceeds from this year's festival will be used to send two local junior high school students and two chaperones to Toyokawa later this year for a cultural exchange. At 11 a.m. Saturday, Cupertino Mayor John Statton will introduce this year's student liaisons.
New to this year's Cherry Blossom Festival is a demonstration of the rare Japanese art form of Eishin Ryu Iaido, a traditional type of sword dancing and one-person meditative martial art. According to Margaret Abe, one of the festival organizers, Iaido was practiced only in private and for the highest levels of Japanese society. This year's Iaido sensei, A. H. Kiamantstein, is one of only six instructors teaching Iaido in the United States.
"Every year, we try to improve [the festival] and add more cultural things to the event," says organizer and Sister City Committee president Lucille Honig. "The idea is to create good will between the two cities and to share the Japanese culture with everyone."
Activities will be held in Memorial Park and in the Quinlan Community Center.
At Quinlan, kite-making instructor David Toy will talk about the history and science of kites. He will lead a kite-making session, dubbed the Leland Toy Memorial Kite-Making Workshop after Toy's late brother, who studied kite-making in Japan. After the workshop, participants will be able to fly their kites outdoors. The workshop is set for Saturday, at 2:30 p.m.
Arts and crafts booths will be set up around the park and will offer numerous activities, including paper sculptures, pottery, dolls, kimonos, Japanese antiques and photos. Several booths also will sell Japanese food.
At Quinlan, several cultural displays and demonstrations are scheduled for the Cupertino Room and will feature subjects such as origami, flower arranging, brush painting, calligraphy and Japanese harp. New this year will be a demonstration by Midori Bonsai Club of San Jose, whose members will show off some of their creations.
Memorial Park is located on Stevens Creek Boulevard at Mary Avenue. Parking will be available across the street at De Anza College. Organizers recommend bringing 8 quarters for parking meters there. For more information on the event, call Lucille Honig at 408.257.7424.
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