Kizuna Japanese Spring Festival

My family and I attended the Kizuna Japanese Spring Festival at a local park in Las Vegas. It was attended by many people. The park is vast and is spread out with a large pond in the center.It was a free event. To eat at any of the booths, tickets were required. There was a long line to buy tickets for food and long lines to order the food. We watched a singing performance. It was hard to walk anywhere inside an area where most of the activities were. It was sunny and hot-add to that the people and concrete and well...you get the picture. We stayed less than an hour. Parking was difficult to find as well.

Had a blast at this event. Too bad I couldn't stay for the drums in the afternoon. Awesome food and fun crafts for sale as well. Be warned though... some accept tap to pay while others require cash.

The food vendors were great, food was fresh prices were on the high side, customer service was lacking friendliness. The vendors in the middle of the festivalProvided a few games for kids but some were not free. We were looking forward to buying anime posters and origami paper but there were neither of those things for sale. There were already origami designs put together that were being sold and towards the end corner of the festival you could pay to try on Comodos.

My wife and I attended the festival for our first time and enjoyed the experience. The festival is held at the Sammy Davis Jr. Festival Plaza in Lorenzi Park. The Plaza is a perfect venue for festivals. It is outdoors, but has a stage and a wall around the plaza. There is plenty of free parking.The festival features a program with on-stage musical, dance, and martial arts performances. There is Japanese food for sale within the festival and Asian food trucks are located just outside the festival. You can also purchase crafts, visit cultural informational booths, or participate in activities. Some of the activities include a Japanese tea ceremony, Japanese calligraphy lessons, and Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement) lessons. Admission is free and most of the activities are donation based.

What a disappointment! What could have been a lovely festival was really nothing more than a flea market with a band. The displays looked half empty and the merchandise was tired and old. There were no spectacular umbrellas, beautiful robes, or unique jewelry. The food far from being fresh was being scooped out of plastic bags. There was trash all over the ground next to the vendor booths. I'm sorry we drove so far.