Monday, July 13, 2020
The Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden Is Canceled This Year
Posted By Jaime Lees on Mon, Jul 13, 2020 at 1:14 PM
If the lack of baseball didn’t already tip you off, summer in St. Louis really is canceled now because the Missouri Botanical Garden (4344 Shaw Boulevard, 314-577‑5100) is saying sayonara to the Japanese Festival this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is the first time that MOBOT’s Japanese Festival has been canceled in 44 years. Held over Labor Day Weekend, the event is always one of the most popular of the season and provides authentic Japanese music, art, dance, food and entertainment.
It is also usually very crowded and it would be difficult to socially distance with that many people in one small area.
The Japanese Garden is always at MOBOT, however, and they will be offering extra entertainment there that weekend.
From MOBOT:
“The private Teahouse Island of the Japanese Garden will be open for guided public tours on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Normally closed to the public, visitors can see the Garden’s soan, the farm hut-style teahouse, which was a gift from Missouri’s sister state of Nagano prefecture in Japan. Originally built in Japan, the teahouse was reassembled on-site by Japanese craftsmen and dedicated during a Shinto ceremony in 1977. Visitors can also see a snow-viewing lantern, yukimi-doro, a gift from St. Louis’ sister city of Suwa, Japan. Teahouse Island tour tickets are $10 in addition to Garden admission. The maximum group size per tour is 10 people.”
The garden will also offer a touching lantern ceremony in honor of the departed on Saturday and Sunday evenings, with tickets limited to 250 guests each night.
For more information about when and how to visit the garden, call 314-577‑5100 or visit MOBOT.org.
Email the author at jaime.lees@riverfronttimes.com
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