As we slowly transition from the steaming hot days of summer into the slightly less steaming hot days of fall, a lot of fun traditions arise in Marshfield and the general area around us, such as fall festivals celebrating vastly different cultures from around the globe. 

One of these very popular cultural festivals is The Japanese Fall festival, which took place in Springfield on September 8, 9, and 10. That means, sadly, the festival is already over. But never fear- the unique festival will return next year! 

This festival took place in the absolutely stunning Mizumoto Japanese stroll garden; ripe with amazing food, merchandise, and a very informative Sumo panel detailing the true agility and strength that is required for such an intense sport. 

The festival was also filled with amazing food and drinks from places located in Springfield like OMO and Lucky Cat with other places with scones, eggrolls, and snow cones. 

After eating the delicious food offered, you may travel to several booths containing things like gashapon, or small capsules containing cute little trinkets like sleeping cats or your favorite Hello Kitty character. Stickers, keychains, plush, 3D printed fidgets, crystals, beautiful plants and pillows can be found almost everywhere. By the time you make it through all the booths it’s almost sundown, but the fun isn’t over yet- there is still one more activity you can partake in. You can buy a small candle and lantern to place in one of the many beautiful pools of water and watch it float away. 

The second extremely popular fall festival was talking about is Cider Days, another one in Springfield and was the third week of September. This festival was huge, full of live music performances, pottery you could paint at the festival, amazing food, clothing booths and even a place like Build-A-Bear. (I actually bought a cute calico cat that came with a free shirt!) One of the places that particularly stood out was the booth from the Burrell Behavioral Health center, containing a large board with descriptors that you could connect string to each little descriptions to show those with suicidal thoughts can recognize that they are not alone.

There still more festivals to enjoy in October. The Ozarks Fall Craft Fair is October 6-8. Mt. Vernon’s Apple Butter Makin’ Days is October 13-15.