2025 Downtown Akron Sakura Festival

Date and Time for this Past Event

Saturday, Apr 5, 2025 1pm - 7pm

Details

Join us for the 2025 Downtown Akron Sakura Festival along the Towpath in downtown Akron, including Locks 2 and 3, the Towpath Trailhead at Spaghetti Warehouse, the James R. Williams Tower in Ohio & Erie Canal Park, and The Mustill Store. The festival is free and open to all. Interested in volunteering to help out at the festival? Click here for more information and to sign up to help.

Download the Festival Program

Click here to download the Festival Map.

Click here to download Festival Parking details.

Weather update: We are keeping an eye on the weather. The festival is a rain or shine event. If there is a thunderstorm, we will delay until the storm passes. We will keep updating on social media: here and in the Facebook event page, as needed. Events taking place indoors (in the Lock 3 shuffleboard area, in the Mustill Store, Williams Tower, and at Cilantro and Street Craftery, etc.) will continue as planned.

This year's festival will feature:

Pre-festival guided bike ride (click to find out more & register)
Horticulturalist Walk & Talk (click to find out more & register)
Origami Workshop (click to find out more & register)
Live performances
Food vendors and food trucks
Sip & Learn: Sake and Sushi Tasting (click to find out more & register)
Chado: Japanese Tea Ceremony (click to find out more & register)
Japanese Tea-Making (click to find out more & register)
Local vendors
Crafts and Art demonstrations
Story and History Walks
Paint in the Park guided painting with Street Craftery (click to find out more & register)
~~Bicentennial Light the Locks event~~ POSTPONED

James R. Williams Tower		Spaghetti Warehouse Trailhead
Locks 2 and 3		Mustill Store
Downtown Business Sakura Specials		Parking

Photo Contest

Visit the Towpath Trail in downtown Akron and capture the beauty of the cherry blossoms with your best photograph.

BONUS points if your photo incorporates a recognizable part of the downtown landscape. The contest is on March 23, 2025 through April 18, 2025, 11:59 pm. Click here for details, prizes, and how to enter.

Interested in sponsoring this or other DAP programs? Learn more here.

Artist Nick Lee's painting of Sakura cherry blossoms framing a Noh Theater mask. — Find out more about artist Nick Lee's painting.

The 2025 Downtown Akron Sakura Festival is made possible with support from the Knight Foundation, Ohio Arts Council, the City of Akron and Lock 3, GAR Foundation, and Akron Community Foundation. Other community partners include the Japanese Association of Northeast Ohio (JANO), Asian Services in Action (ASIA), Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition, Alpha Phi Alpha Homes, Inc., Akron Civic Commons, Cascade Locks Park Association, Akron Children’s Hospital, The University of Akron Zips Activity Board, and Akron Children’s Museum.

For more information about the Akron Bicentennial, including Bicentennial events outside of downtown Akron, visit Akron200.org.