by Sharon Ho Chang
Seattle’s 89th Bon Odori celebration will take place online again this year. This will be the second virtual celebration, last year’s being the first virtual Seattle Bon Odori ever.
Though COVID restrictions were lifted in Washington at the end of June, Seattle Bon Odori needed to decide about this year’s program back in February, said Ron Hamakawa, chairperson of Seattle Bon Odori for the last 15 years.
“There was still a lot of uncertainty about what the state would look like, what the county and city would look like in terms of fully reopening when we needed to make the decision of go or no-go, right? And so we chose the conservative path and said, ‘you know, we are really going to think about the community and not be a super-spreader event. We are going to keep the community safe,’” Hamakawa said.
Continue reading Seattle Bon Odori Will Be Virtual Again This Year, but Still Beautifully Resilient