YOU DID IT AGAIN!!  Congratulations and Thank You to the Omatsuri Volunteers.  The Omatsuri-2018 was, in my opinion, the best organized festival ever. Right from the start, the ground was well designed, the entertainments outdoor offered so much variety, there were hardly any empty seats available most of the day. The cultural demonstrations indoor mixed the cultural demo and entertainment well and also offered quite a variety. The market was ever expanding – we added a few stores including auto dealers outdoor. The admission and the food ticket areas were well run by those experienced volunteers. The Sakefest was introduced for the first time this year that directly involved the sake distributors -the great collaboration. All the food, drinks and sweets were outsourced this year for the first time and took a huge load off the Omatsuri cooking team and allowed the local restaurants to be involved.

Outdoor improvement included the table return and ecological handling of waste. The indoor team ran their part very well also. The registration desk and happi coat checkout areas experienced no hitch -another areas run by experienced volunteers. We received more public attention this year thanks to the media committee, the website committee, the poster and card distribution by the members and the support from the city of Calgary and the Max Bell staff as well as from the office of Consul General of Japan in Calgary. We truly appreciate the support from the local businesses -financial, in-kind and in other forms which helped a long way in making ends meet.  Lastly and the most importantly, it was you the few hundred volunteers and the entertainers who made the Omatsuri one of the best events in Calgary. Special “Thank you” goes to the Omatsuri Committee who worked tirelessly for the past six months and, some of whom worked a year around, The committee members have already committed to coming back for the Omatsuri 2019 on August 10th,2019. I would surely like to see all of you again and celebrate the Japanese culture and the community harmony for this great city of ours. Domo Arigato Gozaimasu! Thank you very much!

Taken from the CJCA December 2018 Newsletter

                                          – Written by Ted Wada, Event Chairperson

Click Video to view the video for 2018 created by Ryan Logan