1. What is the Yamagata Forestry Festival & Autumn Food Festival?

Every year around the end of October, a two-day forestry and food event is held in Tendo City.

As the names say, there were many booths for woodworking workshops, wooden toy areas, sales of local agricultural products, and food stalls.

The number of booths was 148!

It is quite a large number to have a look at each (^^;)

In particular, there are many types of woodworking booths offering activities at reasonable prices, so many children worked hard (^-^)

We too did five different woodworking workshops, for a total stay of 4 hours…

Still, my children seemed not fully satisfied, saying, “We will definitely go next year!”

In addition to the booths, there is also a special stage where events such as a block building competition and log cutting competition are open to the general public.

This event can be enjoyed by the whole family and here are three main ways to enjoy it.

①  Activities & Workshops
②  Delicacies
③  Shopping

I would like to introduce each one while also showing the venue!

2. Enjoy activities and experiences

First, we will introduce the booths for activities and experiences.

Immediately after entering the entrance from the special parking lot, the children swarmed a booth where they could play with this building block (free of charge).

At this booth, you can try and buy the Mokuroku wooden blocks made in Yamagata.

The blocks are 100% made of wood (cherry, maple, zelkova) from Yamagata Prefecture.

The feature is that there are no two pieces with the same pattern, and that they are warm and beautiful.

Large playground equipment such as seesaws, swings, and insects are installed in a place similar to the central square of the venue.

There were lots of sounds of joy.

The sound of the hammering was ringing at the free birdhouse-making corner.

I want to make something like this if I own a house someday. (^-^)

One of the attractions of this event is that you can actually experience wood manufacturing and take what you made home as a souvenir.

There was a log mushroom inoculation experience (250 yen per log).

Wreath making (200 yen) using autumn treasures (such as pampas grass and acorns).

There were plenty of easy-to-do and reasonably priced activities to experience, such as craft work (^-^)

Meanwhile, here is the booth where the children of our house did not visit…

Yes, this is the booth of Yamagata Hunting Association where a bear fur was displayed!
It’s really big when you look up close! And the claws are terrifying!

By the way, you could try target shooting here.

At the special stage inside the venue, there were also event such as a block building competition and log speed cutting competition where anyone can participate on the day.

The bucket competition was on a first-come, first-served basis. Time for the events will be broadcast.

It is recommended because you can see cute, hard-working children.

3. Enjoy delicacies

The venue has a large number and variety of food stalls, so you can have a satisfying lunch at the venue.

Here are the stands in front of the special stage.

When you pass through the food stall area, you will end up with a fragrant smell grabbing your stomach (≧-≦)

Of course, the Yamagata B-class gourmet king dondon yaki was also baked at full capacity.

What took my attention was the benibana-jiru stall.

This is a soup that uses safflower, a specialty of Yamagata and also the flower of the prefecture.

I found it after eating plenty already, so I’ll try it next time (^-^)

And here is the booth of the famous nameko scooping introduced in the news!

The size of the scope will be determined by the roll of a dice.

Numbered tickets were distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, but it was tremendously popular and exciting (^-^)

So, after a quick look, my family settled down on the classic dondon-yaki.

It is special when you eat it outdoors.

It was a safe choice, delicious as always (^-^)

For dessert we had a crepe made from rice flour at Komeyakata’s booth, a company from Murayama City.

The sweetness of the fluffy dough and the cherries and fresh cream was exquisite (^-^)

4. Enjoy shopping

Last is an introduction of wooden products and booths selling food of autumn from the prefecture.

This is a booth for Furniture Studio Moku, where they make and sell wooden furniture and accessories using hard wood from Yamagata prefecture.

Gentle and high-design products were lined up.

I noticed I had seen some of the items at the top somewhere, and in fact it was a product I had seen at the souvenir shop Shobido in the S-PAL shopping mall at Yamagata station, a place I had introduced earlier (^- ^)

This Desk Robo is a cute product both functionally and visually.

In addition to accessories, there were also booths selling furniture such as chairs and tables.

But if I buy something, I’m worried about carrying it home…

Can they deliver the products at a later day?

If you plan to buy something, it seems better to check with the shop in advance.

I think that these decorations are the work of a craftsman, and it was said that it was made by an amateur who was 80 years old and made them just as a hobby.

The fee was surprisingly reasonable.

It will give atmosphere to a Japanese-style room. (^-^)

In addition to woodworking products, there are also many booths selling fruits and mushrooms to enjoy the taste of Yamagata’s autumn season.

Here are delicacies also delivered to the Imperial Household Agency…

It was very popular (^ – ^)

5. Access & Parking

* The information is for fiscal year 2019.
Please confirm the venue, etc., in advance.

The address is as follows:

Tendo City, Yamagata Prefecture 994-0054
Yamagata Prefectural Sports Park Second South Parking Lot

A special parking lot was set across the second sports ground.

There is quite a lot of parking space, so you should be okay.

This time we arrived around 10:00, one hour after the opening time on the second day, but it seemed that there was still enough room in the parking.

6. Summary

In this article, we introduced the Yamagata Forestry Festival & Autumn Food Festival held every autumn in Tendo City, Yamagata Prefecture.

It is an event that can be enjoyed by a wide range of generations with the usually not available woodworking workshops and tastes unique to the season.

Please come and enjoy it!