After a doubtful start to the day with a heavy downpour threatening the festival the sun returned stalls were relocated to drier ground and the festival went on.
(click on the images to view them at a larger sizes)
Young and old turned out in large numbers making this years festival a huge success.
One of the activities that really united the festival goers was the Bon Odori Dance – in this Bon Odori Panorama you can see the dancers making their way around the festival tower in unison.
There were a huge number of food stalls providing an amazing array of international foods from traditional Japanese festival BBQ to Indian and french flavors.
One of the more spectacular events of the festival was the Mochi and Candy toss where people scrambled to grab as much as they could.
There was a brief spell of rain which sent everyone in search for cover but this didn’t last long before the fire was raging.
The Yotei Taiko Drumming group fired up the crowd with a typically energetic performance and i did my best to get down the front and stay low to shoot this Yotei Taiko Panorama unfortunately i didn’t have space to move my big head out of the way !!
I put my camera away for the final fireworks display and enjoyed the moment with my wife and friends.
Thanks to everyone who contributed towards producing the event – no doubt a great time had by all.