The following is a guest post from reader Michelle Pierce.

One of the ways to celebrate the coming of spring is to attend the Cherry Blossom Festival of Southern California. It was a great way to spend quality time with family and friends while taking in a variety of entertainment, vendors and food.

The yearly festival takes place in Little Tokyo on San Pedro between 1^st and 3^rd streets. The location allows one to explore more of Downtown Los Angeles, including Little Tokyo and Chinatown.

During the two-day event, tons of performances took place- from demonstrations of the martial art form Aikido, taiko (Japanese drum playing), to Hawaiian/Polynesian dances. For adults, demonstrations for making origami balls with strips of long paper are available.

There are many activities to keep the little ones busy too. Several tables with free arts and crafts were set up for children to have fun making felt fortune cookies, painting and learning origami. Kids also had the opportunity to jump around in the inflatable bounce house and play on the slides.

The vendors at the festival sold an assortment of items include sushi-making kits, tea ceremony sets, origami cranes and clothing. All sorts of items stemming from Polynesian and Japanese origins were available.

Some of my favorite items were the cherry green tea by Dens Tea, the cornflake nibbles cookies by Kine cookies (helping to support the Dragonflies basketball team) and the clothing from Fat Rabbit Farm. Women, beware the cute clothing from Fat Rabbit Farm is addicting. I walked away after purchasing four items and easily could have bought more. The same goes for the cookies.

The food vendors included Mexican, Japanese and Hawaiian types of food. Lots of Kaluha pork with cabbage ramen salad and tako-yaki were served. The former dish was so popular it was completely sold out by the end of the first festival day.

Hawaiian shaved ice was a dessert favorite — just name your flavor and prepare for a mouth full of color. If you didn’t feel like grabbing a bite at the festival, the number of cafes and restaurants in the neighborhood were sure to satisfy any craving. Lines at the local eateries and Shabu Shabu House were out door.

If you were not able to make it to the festival this weekend, look for it next year and join Los Angeles in bringing in a new spring.

-cherry blossom festival bringing little tokyo together

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