Family & Community Events

313 events you didn't know to search for

Anime & Manga Events Gaming & Esports Events Concert & Music Events Movie & Film Events Sports Events Comic & Superhero Events Convention & Expo Events Fashion & Streetwear Events Family & Community Events Nation's Best

Dragonfest Expo 20th Anniversary — Asian Martial Arts & Culture Glendale

Coming Soon

31 days away

Dragonfest Expo 20th Anniversary — Asian Martial Arts & Culture Glendale

Aug 1, 2026 TBA — check Eventbrite Glendale Civic Auditorium, 1401 N …

Twenty years. The Martial Arts History Museum's flagship celebration returns on August 1, 2026 at the Glendale Civic Auditorium for its biggest milestone yet: the 20th Annual Dragonfest Expo. This is the event that calls itself the greatest cultural and martial arts expo in the world, and the twenty-year anniversary brings the full scale of that claim to Glendale. Attendees get access to legendary martial arts celebrities and icons — meet-and-greets, Q&A sessions, and photo opportunities with the people who defined martial arts on film and in competition. Six-part Q&A lecture series with guest speakers. Spectacular Asian cultural performances. A full cosplay photo experience for the anime and gaming crowd that has always overlapped with martial arts fandom. The audience for Dragonfest is wider than any single fandom. If you grew up on kung fu films, anime with fight choreography, video game tournaments, or any corner of Asian pop culture, this event hits something fundamental. The Martial Arts History Museum — a nonprofit institution dedicated to preserving martial arts history and culture — runs this as its annual showcase. All proceeds fund the museum directly. All ages welcome. Six hours of programming from 11 AM to 5 PM. Paid parking available at the Glendale Civic Auditorium. The auditorium is accessible by Metro and public transit from across Los Angeles County. This is the 20th anniversary. If you've been to Dragonfest before, this is the year you don't skip. If you haven't been, this is the year to start. August 1, 2026 — Glendale Civic Auditorium.

Coming Soon

31 days away

SheroCon 2026 — Van Nuys, CA

Aug 1, 2026 7900 Balboa Blvd Ste B, Van Nuys, …

There are rooms in the comics and gaming world where the art on the walls and the people running the tables look different from every other convention. SheroCon exists because someone decided to build one. Organized by Shero Comics, SheroCon is a half-day convention celebrating women, non-binary, and femme-presenting creators across comics, anime, gaming, and creative tech. Not a panel about inclusion. Not a track added to a larger convention. A room that is entirely theirs — with artists, cosplayers, tabletop players, and workshops oriented around the communities that are underrepresented at every other show. The venue is part of the experience: Valley Relics Museum in Van Nuys houses decades of Southern California neon, vintage signage, and pop culture ephemera. The backdrop alone makes SheroCon unlike anything you have seen at a hotel ballroom convention. Whether you are a creator looking for your people, a cosplayer looking for a stage, or someone who has walked into convention dealer halls and felt like a tourist — this is the room that was built for you. Saturday, August 1, 2026 · 12PM–6PM · Valley Relics Museum, Van Nuys · All ages · Free entry (premium tiers available)

Gardena Valley Buddhist Church Obon Festival 2026

Coming Soon

14 Gathering

31 days away

Gardena Valley Buddhist Church Obon Festival 2026

Aug 1 – Aug 2, 2026 Gardena Valley Buddhist Church, 15…

The Gardena Valley Buddhist Church Obon Festival runs August 1–2, 2026, one of the final Obon celebrations of the Southern California summer season. Gardena's Japanese American community is one of the densest in the United States, and the Obon here reflects generations of cultural continuity in one of the most stable Japanese American neighborhoods in California. The Gardena Obon is known for exceptional food — the temple's volunteer crews have been making these dishes for years, and the teriyaki chicken, yakisoba, mochi, and shave ice have a following that draws people from across the South Bay and beyond. The food lines start before the Bon Odori, and some booths sell out before the final evening. Bon Odori dancing circles the yagura each evening as darkness falls. Live Taiko drumming opens the dancing, transitioning into the traditional recorded Obon songs that every seasoned dancer knows by heart. First-timers are welcomed and the dances repeat, making it easy to learn as you go. The Gardena Valley Buddhist Church is located at 1517 W 166th St in Gardena, a short drive from the 405 freeway. Parking on-site and in surrounding streets. No admission charge. Children's games, craft tables, and a plant sale typically run alongside the main festival. The atmosphere is a neighborhood block party with Buddhist roots — warm, multigenerational, and genuinely communal.

Orange County Water Lantern Festival 2026

Coming Soon

85 Gathering

31 days away

Orange County Water Lantern Festival 2026

Aug 1 – Aug 2, 2026 From 0.99 Centennial Park, 3000 W Edinger Av…

As the sun sets over Centennial Park in Santa Ana, thousands of paper lanterns hit the water — and for one hour, Orange County becomes something else entirely. The Orange County Water Lantern Festival returns August 1–2, 2026, with two evenings of music, food trucks, and the kind of communal ritual that people travel hours to be part of. Lanterns open at 5:00 PM each day, with the main lantern launch happening between 8:00 and 9:00 PM as darkness falls over the park pond. Every attendee receives a lantern kit at check-in: you'll decorate your lantern with the included markers — write a wish, a name, a message — then set it gently on the water with hundreds of strangers doing the same thing at the same time. The effect is genuinely arresting: a slow-moving carpet of warm light spreading across the dark water while live acoustic music plays from the stage nearby. The event takes place at Centennial Park's pond area, well-served by OC bus routes and with free parking available in the adjacent lot. Food trucks are on-site serving dinner, and lawn seating is BYO-blanket. Tickets start at 0.99 early bird (rising to 7.99 at the gate) and include the lantern kit — children 3 and under are free. This is not a passive spectacle: you are part of what you're watching. That's the mechanic that makes it stick. Purchase through the Water Lantern Festival's official site.

Sultans Car Club — 33rd Annual Classic Car Show at Long Beach Shoreline

Coming Soon

32 days away

Sultans Car Club — 33rd Annual Classic Car Show at Long Beach Shoreline

Aug 2, 2026 ShoreLine Aquatic Park, 200 Aquari…

The Sultans Car Club presents their 33rd Annual Classic Car Show at ShoreLine Aquatic Park in Long Beach on Sunday, August 2, 2026. Thirty-three years. The same car club, the same beautiful park setting overlooking the harbor, the same community of SoCal car culture -- year after year after year. This is what a real car show looks like. Up to 250 registered vehicles from 1975 and older will be on display across the park grounds. Categories span customs, lowriders, hot rods, classics, and trucks -- judged by a panel with deep roots in the community. Vehicle registration is $50 (includes t-shirt and dash plaque) and is capped at 250 vehicles, so enter early. Spectator admission is free. Beyond the cars: live entertainment, food vendors, and the kind of afternoon that moves slowly in the best way. ShoreLine Aquatic Park offers a backdrop that is hard to beat -- water on one side, classic metal on the other. The Sultans Car Club is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, and proceeds from the event benefit local charities (the club raised $10,500 for local causes at their last show). Location: ShoreLine Aquatic Park, 200 Aquarium Way, Long Beach, CA 90802. Parking is available in the nearby Shoreline Village lots. This event is family-friendly, dog-friendly, and free to attend as a spectator. The Sultans Car Club has been doing this for 33 years -- they are not stopping now.

Coming Soon

32 days away

Melrose Trading Post — Aug 2

Aug 2, 2026 Fairfax High School, 7850 Melrose …

Melrose Trading Post is one of Los Angeles's most beloved weekly outdoor markets — a Sunday institution at Fairfax High School in West Hollywood where vendors sell vintage clothing, handcrafted artisan goods, antique furniture, art, records, and one-of-a-kind objects to a crowd that treats the market as a social gathering as much as a shopping trip. The Melrose Trading Post has been running since 1995, which gives it something most markets cannot manufacture: a real community. The same vendors return week after week, the same customers show up every Sunday, and the collective accumulation of that repetition creates something that feels more like a neighborhood ritual than a commercial event. The quality is genuinely variable — treasure hunting is part of the culture — but the atmosphere is consistent: creative, laid-back, and decidedly LA. Fairfax High School, 7850 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046 (parking lot). Every Sunday, year-round, from approximately 9 AM to 5 PM. $3 admission goes to benefit Fairfax High School programs. Parking limited in the lot — street parking on Melrose and Fairfax, or take the 217 bus. The market covers the school's full parking lot and can accommodate a few hours of serious exploration. Food trucks and vendors are on-site. Rain occasionally interrupts — check @melrosetradingpost for same-day status.

Coming Soon

32 days away

Smorgasburg Los Angeles — August 2026

Aug 2, 2026 Free admission ROW DTLA, 777 S Alameda St, Los An…

Smorgasburg Los Angeles runs every Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM at ROW DTLA, an open-air market and arts complex in the warehouse district south of the Arts District. The event is a West Coast outpost of the Brooklyn original — the largest weekly open-air food market in the country. On any given Sunday there are 50 to 80 food vendors, almost all of them small independent operations selling a single signature item. The variety is genuinely broad: Japanese milk bread, birria tacos, Nashville hot chicken, Hawaiian poke, Filipino ube desserts, Korean corn dogs, birria ramen, artisanal ice cream. Many vendors are pre-restaurant — this is where they test concepts before opening a brick-and-mortar. The complex also hosts design, vintage, and craft vendors alongside the food. Seating is spread across the open plaza. It operates rain or shine year-round. ROW DTLA is at 777 S Alameda St, Los Angeles. Parking is free on the property. Metro Gold Line Little Tokyo/Arts District station is a 10-minute walk. Admission is free. Budget $20–40 for food.

Charger Steve Pacific Beach Wild Rides -- August 2026

Coming Soon

32 days away

Charger Steve Pacific Beach Wild Rides -- August 2026

Aug 2, 2026 Mission Blvd and Garnet Ave, San D…

The regulars treat it like a family reunion that happens to have V8 engines. That is the feel Charger Steve has built at the corner of Mission and Garnet -- a monthly Pacific Beach show with no entry fee and no pretension, a block from the beach. Everything turns up: restored muscle cars, classic trucks, custom hot rods, Japanese imports -- the full spectrum of San Diego car culture parked next to the surf. Charger Steve has been running these for years, and the crowd knows each other. Bring your car, your story, and an appetite for the taco shops within walking distance. Saturday, August 2, 2026, 10am to 2pm, Mission and Garnet, Pacific Beach. Free to attend.

Poway Cruisers In-N-Out Car Show -- August 2026

Coming Soon

32 days away

Poway Cruisers In-N-Out Car Show -- August 2026

Aug 2, 2026 12890 Gregg Court, Poway, CA 92064

Nobody here needed a trophy to show up. The Poway Cruisers have always believed car culture works best with the pretension stripped out -- no registration fees, no judging panels, just a parking lot full of people who built something and want to stand next to it with a Double-Double in hand. Their monthly meet at the Poway In-N-Out draws the full range of San Diego car culture: classic American muscle, Japanese imports, European sports cars, and the occasional barn find that pulls everyone over with their phones out. The In-N-Out lot is the whole point -- burgers and milkshakes are the only entry fee, and the conversation moves easily between bites and engine stories. The regulars have been doing this for years, and it still feels like a neighborhood thing. Saturday, August 2, 2026, 10:30am to 1pm at the Poway In-N-Out. Free to attend. All vehicles welcome.

Coming Soon

34 days away

Da Poetry Lounge — Tuesday Open Mic

Aug 4, 2026 $5 open mic / $10 slam Greenway Court Theatre, 544 N Fair…

Dante Basco believed Los Angeles needed a Tuesday night where anyone with a poem could read it and anyone who wanted to listen could hear it. So in 1998 he started hosting it in his living room with co-founders Ron 'Shihan' Van Clief, Devan 'Poetri' Smith, and 'Brutha' Gimmel Hooper. Da Poetry Lounge has been running ever since — the longest-running spoken word open mic in the city, every Tuesday at Greenway Court Theatre on Fairfax. The format is simple. You drop your name in the bucket. Fate pulls who reads. The third Tuesday of every month is the slam, which is the same room with stakes. Doors at eight. Bucket at eight-thirty. Mic at nine. Five dollars for open mic, ten for slam, cash only. All ages. The room is the room that produced half of LA's spoken-word generation since the late nineties — Saul Williams, Beau Sia, Jamie DeWolf, in different decades. Two hundred capacity. Some of the names have already been called. Some of them have not.

Coming Soon

32 Gathering

35 days away

Ventura County Fair 2026

Aug 5 – Aug 16, 2026 10 W Harbor Blvd, Ventura, CA 93001

The Ventura County Fair is a beloved summer tradition held on the Ventura County Fairgrounds, just steps from the Pacific Ocean in Ventura. Running for over a century, this eleven-day fair brings the Central Coast's agricultural roots and community entertainment culture together in one sprawling venue. Expect carnival rides, livestock competitions, agricultural exhibits, 4-H project showcases, live concerts across multiple stages, local food vendors, deep-fried fair food, pie contests, and the full pageantry of a traditional California county fair. The fairgrounds sit at the waterfront along Harbor Boulevard — ocean breezes and Pacific sunsets are part of the experience. Free parking is available at the fairgrounds. Evening concert series draws regional and national acts. Grandstand shows, demolition derby, and rodeo events round out the entertainment calendar. Check venturacountyfair.org for the daily schedule, concert lineup, and ticket pricing before you go. Families with kids will find rides scaled for all ages. Food vendors lean heavily local — look for the avocado-based options from Central Coast growers.

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally 2026 — Sturgis, SD

Coming Soon

🌎 Nation's Best 37 days away

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally 2026 — Sturgis, SD

Aug 7 – Aug 16, 2026 Main Street, Sturgis, SD 57785

Ten days in August, and the small town of Sturgis, South Dakota — population 7,000 — becomes a city of half a million. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has been doing this since 1938. Arrive in Sturgis on the first Friday of the rally and the sound alone tells you something is different. Main Street closes to cars and opens to motorcycles, and the flow of custom Harleys, touring bikes, and custom builds becomes a continuous parade. The surrounding Black Hills are the real draw for serious riders: Needles Highway is 14 miles of narrow tunnels and granite spire switchbacks that belong on every motorcyclist's bucket list. Iron Mountain Road corkscrews through South Dakota's most dramatic terrain. The rally itself spawns music stages, vendor villages, stunt shows, bike shows, and pop-up bars across a 50-mile radius — the Buffalo Chip alone hosts major touring acts nightly. The diversity of the crowd surprises first-timers: veterans and newcomers, engineers and mechanics, people who rode three states to get here and people who flew in and rented a bike. The common denominator is the machine. Sturgis is for anyone who rides or wants to understand what riding means to the people who live it. This is not for people looking for a sanitized festival experience with VIP sections and scheduled activities. It is for those who find meaning in the open road, want to ride some of the most spectacular terrain in the country, and are comfortable with ten days of organized chaos. If you are a motorcyclist who has never been, Sturgis before you die is not a cliche — it is a genuine recommendation. Book accommodations now. Not soon. Now. Hotels and campgrounds within 50 miles of Sturgis sell out months in advance, and the closer to Main Street, the earlier they go. The Buffalo Chip is the largest campground and hosts the best concerts — book a camping package directly with them. Bring rain gear: August in South Dakota includes afternoon thunderstorms that clear fast. Gas up before you reach Main Street — the lines at pumps on rally days are long. Parking on Main Street is motorcycle only, which means you park your bike among 50,000 others and walk the strip. That is the point. Sturgis earns its place on Falkor Nation's Best list because it is not trying to be anything other than what it has always been: a gathering of people who chose a lifestyle, not just a hobby. There is no corporate polish here, no influencer activations, no sponsored experiences. There is Needles Highway at sunrise, a custom build that took three years, and 450,000 people who made the same choice to show up. That kind of authenticity is increasingly rare. Sturgis 2026 runs August 7-16 in Sturgis, South Dakota. Event information at sturgis.com.

Coming Soon

🌎 Nation's Best 37 days away

Outside Lands 2026 — San Francisco, CA

Aug 7 – Aug 9, 2026 Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, C…

Golden Gate Park in August. Three stages, 80,000 people per day, San Francisco fog that rolls in after dark, and the kind of setting that makes you aware of exactly where you are. 2026 Lineup: Charli XCX headlines Friday alongside Turnstile and GRIZTRONICS (Subtronics + GRiZ). Saturday brings The Strokes, The xx, Djo, and PinkPantheress. Sunday closes with RÜFÜS DU SOL, Baby Keem, Empire of the Sun, and Death Cab For Cutie. The 2026 lineup spans the exact territory Outside Lands has always owned — indie credibility, electronic discovery, and one or two acts that no other major festival would program together on the same day. What it feels like to be there: Golden Gate Park is not a typical festival field. It has hills, dense tree lines, and winding paths between stages — which means every decision about where to go next feels like an adventure. The food component rivals the music: Wine Lands curates California vintages from 100+ producers, and the culinary lineup includes restaurants you would normally wait two months for a reservation. Grass Lands, one of the only legal cannabis sections at a major US festival, was pioneered here before the concept existed anywhere else. The crowd is unapologetically San Francisco — tech workers dancing next to art students, parents with kids watching from the hills, and regulars who have been coming every year since the first one. Is it worth it? Three-day passes are sold out. Single-day GA starts at 49 — a real number, but one that buys you a full San Francisco day with a world-class lineup attached. If you are the kind of person who treats a music festival as a reason to experience a city at its best, Outside Lands is one of the two or three most complete versions of that experience in the country. The Thursday night preview show offered in some years provides a lighter crowd and a more intimate experience. What to know before you go: Golden Gate Park has significant distances between stages — comfortable shoes are the single most important logistical decision you make. The morning fog burns off mid-day but evenings get cold fast; bring layers regardless of the August forecast. Public transit (Muni) drops close to the park entrance — parking inside the park is difficult. Go early on day one to establish your geography before the headliner crowds form. Outside Lands sits on Falkor's Nation's Best list because it represents what happens when a city fully commits to its own identity as a host. San Francisco does not just put on a festival — it becomes the stage. The combination of world-class music, California wine and food culture, and the physical landscape of Golden Gate Park produces something that exists nowhere else. Whether you go or spend three days following the lineup from home, knowing about Outside Lands is knowing what the culture is willing to do when it gets access to a great park.

Coming Soon

🌎 Nation's Best 37 days away

Outside Lands 2026 — San Francisco, CA

Aug 7 – Aug 9, 2026 Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, C…

Outside Lands is San Francisco's signature music festival — three days of live music, culinary discovery, and counterculture tradition held each August in Golden Gate Park. Since its debut in 2008, Outside Lands has grown into one of the most distinctive major festivals in America, not just for its headliners but for what surrounds them: Michelin-starred pop-ups, local winery pavilions, and the unmistakable atmosphere of one of the world's most iconic urban parks. It is the only major American festival where the food and wine programming is genuinely competitive with the music lineup. Golden Gate Park transforms over Outside Lands weekend. Fog rolls in from the Pacific, turning the late afternoon golden and strange. Five stages spread across meadows and tree lines mean you are never fighting a crowd to get somewhere new — you are wandering. The food program is legitimately world-class: San Francisco's best restaurants, the Wine Lands pavilion sourcing exclusively from California vintners, and a craft beer hall that reads like a curated state tour. The crowd skews music-literate and west-coast laid-back. Veterans wear layers — August in San Francisco means 55-degree evenings regardless of how warm the day started. That chill is part of the experience. Outside Lands is worth it if you care about music enough to pay attention to who is on stage and curious enough to care who is cooking. This is not a dayger with a soundtrack. The lineup typically covers indie, pop, hip-hop, and electronic across its five stages — something each day for someone who takes live music seriously. If you are the kind of person who looks up set times in advance and builds a day around two or three can't-miss acts, this is exactly your festival. The culinary and wine programming elevates it above the music alone. Layers are not optional — bring a jacket or you will buy one at the merch tent. The shuttle from the city runs from multiple pickup points and is worth the add-on; parking near the park is limited and expensive. General admission wristbands are purchased through FrontGate Tickets, not at the gate. The festival grounds are accessible via BART to the Outer Sunset area, then a manageable walk. Food lines move — the culinary vendors are staffed for volume. Arrive at gate open if you want the best picnic spot near the main stages. Pre-purchase food tokens if the option exists; it cuts wait time significantly. What Outside Lands represents is the meeting of San Francisco's two defining cultural identities: the music city that gave the world the Summer of Love, and the food city that turned the Bay into America's most admired dining region. Three days in Golden Gate Park holds both simultaneously. That convergence does not exist anywhere else. Tickets are available through FrontGate Tickets at sfoutsidelands.com — August 7 through 9, 2026. This one fills up. Buy before the announcement cycle closes the window.

Coming Soon

22 Gathering

37 days away

Long Beach Jazz Festival 2026

Aug 7 – Aug 9, 2026 Single day $45-75 / Weekend pass $80-120 Rainbow Lagoon Park, 200 Aquarium …

Blankets and lawn chairs on the grass at Rainbow Lagoon Park, the sound going out across the water. The Long Beach Jazz Festival has been getting this right for thirty years — two days of jazz, soul, R&B, and Latin music at one of the best outdoor venues in Southern California. The lineup moves through straight-ahead jazz, smooth jazz, soul, R&B, and Latin jazz across two stages. Past headliners have included Chick Corea, George Benson, Hiroshima, Rick Braun, and Boney James. The festival is known for its relaxed, warm atmosphere: food and wine vendors, an audience that ranges from first-timers to decade-long regulars, and the kind of programming that rewards arriving early and staying until the last note. Rainbow Lagoon Park is 200 Aquarium Way, downtown Long Beach. Flat, accessible, with views of the marina and close to downtown restaurants. Parking in nearby structures. The Blue Line metro stop at Transit Mall is a 15-minute walk. Weekend passes and single-day tickets available. Lawn chairs on-site or bring your own. The festival runs in August — check lbjazzfest.com for exact dates and lineup as they are announced.

Coming Soon

25 Gathering

37 days away

Cruisin' Grand Escondido — August 2026

Aug 7, 2026 Grand Ave, Escondido, CA 92025

The August edition of Cruisin' Grand fills Grand Avenue in downtown Escondido on August 7, 2026, marking one of the busiest months for what has been called the largest free weekly car show in the United States. August brings warm evenings that are perfect for the outdoor show — the sun sets later, spectators linger longer, and the energy on Grand Avenue builds through the evening hours. Summer is peak season for the show's attendance, and August Fridays consistently bring some of the most impressive builds of the season. Cruisin' Grand runs from 4 PM until dark on the closed-to-traffic Grand Avenue. Hundreds of vehicles park along both sides of the avenue and into adjacent side streets. All styles welcome — the show is defined by its eclecticism. You might find a 1934 Ford Tudor next to a 1970 Chevelle next to a full custom lowrider next to a restored Japanese import from the early 1990s. The real draw is the absence of formality: no tickets, no judging, no roped-off displays. Cars and spectators share the street. Owners talk freely about their builds. It is the social event that car culture was meant to be — no separation between the cars and the people who love them. Downtown Escondido's restaurants and bars see heavy traffic on Cruisin' Grand Fridays.

Abbot Kinney First Fridays — August 2026

Coming Soon

25 Gathering

37 days away

Abbot Kinney First Fridays — August 2026

Aug 7, 2026 Free Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, Los Ang…

Abbot Kinney First Fridays runs the first Friday of every month from 5 to 10 PM on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, Los Angeles. The street transforms into a pedestrian-friendly outdoor market and block party with all the boutiques, galleries, restaurants, and shops extended open late alongside food trucks and live street performances. Abbot Kinney is one of the few streets in LA that has maintained a genuine neighborhood identity through decades of gentrification pressure — independent retailers, working artists, local restaurants, and design studios have anchored the block since the 1980s. First Fridays is the moment when the community that sustains those businesses shows up together. The energy is different from a festival. There is no main stage and no single sponsor. Just a few hundred people moving between shops, plates of food from local trucks, and occasional live music spilling out of storefronts. It is LA neighborhood culture at its most accessible. Street parking fills early. Metro Expo Line to 26th/Bergamot and a short rideshare, or park in the surrounding Venice residential streets and walk in. The event is free.

Nisei Week Japanese Festival 2026 — Little Tokyo, Los Angeles

Coming Soon

37 days away

Nisei Week Japanese Festival 2026 — Little Tokyo, Los Angeles

Aug 7, 2026 Free 244 S San Pedro St, Los Angeles, C…

Nisei Week started in 1934 as a way to bring business to Little Tokyo during the Depression. What it became is the oldest Asian-American festival in the United States — ten days of cultural performances, traditional arts, food, and the Saturday Grand Parade that turns First Street into a procession that has been happening for over ninety years. The festival draws from the full range of Japanese-American cultural practice: traditional dance (ondo, bon dancing), taiko drumming, ikebana, martial arts demonstrations, the Queen Program that has been running continuously since the 1930s. The arts and crafts exhibitions are curated by community organizations that know exactly what they're preserving. The Grand Parade is the part that stops foot traffic in Little Tokyo. But the week that surrounds it is the reason the community shows up. Most people who have lived in Los Angeles their whole lives have never been. The ones who went once don't miss it. Little Tokyo, Los Angeles — Central Ave and 1st St, and surrounding streets. Mid-August. Free to attend most events. Check the Nisei Week Foundation website for the full schedule.

There's more here for you.

An account shows you family & community events matched to your exact taste — not just what's popular.

Find mine Log In

Family & Community Events

Leaving Falkor