Daikin Festival returning to Decatur in May after three years

Erica Smith, The Decatur Daily, Ala.
·2 min read

Mar. 1—The Daikin Festival, which shares Japanese culture with the community but has not been held since 2019, will return to Decatur this year on May 5 at Point Mallard Park.

The free family-friendly festival will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Forrest Keith, community relations manager for Daikin America, said there will be live music, Japanese folk dancing, Japanese calligraphy, Japanese culture displays and Daikin employees will play taiko drums.

"We do plan to have a firework show at the end of the evening, like right around 9 p.m.," he said.

There will also be plenty of free food, Keith said.

"We're going to have hot dogs and hamburgers, pizza and barbecue and some jambalaya that our engineers are making and yakisoba will be prepared on-site; people can watch us make it," he said. "We'll have bottled water and Pepsi products and all that will be given away free, and there'll be ice cream."

Yakisoba, Keith said, is a Japanese food that is a combination of buckwheat noodles, beef, carrots and cabbage. He said it is eaten with a special yakisoba sauce and cooked on a grill.

The traditionally annual event was canceled the last three years due to COVID-19 concerns.

The Daikin Festival previously was held at the Morgan County Fairgrounds, which the State Product Mart Authority sold in 2019. The 2020 festival was scheduled for Point Mallard before the COVID pandemic forced its cancellation.

Keith said he hopes everyone sees the change of venue as a good thing.

"I'm hoping that because it's at Point Mallard, and everybody's familiar with Point Mallard, that people will feel like it's a familiar place to go to and bring their families," he said.

Point Mallard Park is in Councilman Carlton McMasters' district. He said he thinks having the festival at the park is a great choice.

"It's hosted several art festivals in the past and we're excited Daikin's bringing it back after a three-year hiatus," McMasters said. "We're excited it's coming back and I know the community's excited as well. ... I think there'll be a good turnout."

McMasters said he enjoys the drums and learning about the Japanese culture.

"It's great they give us an opportunity to learn more," he said.

The first Daikin Festival was for Daikin America's grand opening and took place in the company's parking lot in 1994 with 500 guests. At its peak it has attracted 20,000 people.

—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460.