BonPOP 2025

This community program is free with admission. Please consider supporting the Gardens of Golden Gate Park with a recommended donation of $5-20. Your support helps us connect people to plants, the planet, and each other. 

Sunday, August 31, 2025
2-6pm
San Francisco Botanical Garden – Celebration Garden

About the Program

KOHO and Gardens of Golden Gate Park are excited to present the annual BonPOP Obon festival, a re-imagined Obon Odori event that welcomes everyone to experience the rich Japanese tradition of honoring ancestors through dance, song, and rituals. This inclusive event invites people of all religions, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds to join in the festivities.

The Obon Festival, which has its roots in the Chinese Ghost Festival of Buddhist and Taoist traditions, takes place in August. It is believed that during this time, rituals help the living connect with their ancestors. These rituals include enjoying ceremonial foods, family traditions, and celebratory dancing under festival lanterns, accompanied by the sounds of taiko drums and traditional songs.

Immerse yourself in an afternoon of honoring your ancestors, remembering your loved ones with lantern tags, engaging with vendors, and enjoying celebratory dancing and community activities.

Program Schedule

2-4pm: Vendors and Activities

• Chameleon Vintage: selling vintage yukata

• Old River Design Co. selling accessories

• More vendors TBA!

4-6pm: Dancing

About KOHO

Celebrating the ever evolving creative spirit of our Japanese and Japanese-American community, KOHO gives voice to our immigrant ancestors, the strength and resilience of those who endured the incarceration experience of World War II, the residents and businesses displaced during the Redevelopment era in the 1960s-80s, and the narratives of our multi-ethnic, intergenerational community of today, many who are longing for a deeper connection to their heritage, to place, purpose and pride.

Learn more here >>

—

Drop-in program, no RSVP needed. Rain cancels. Admission to the Garden is free for San Francisco residents, veterans, Museums for All/EBT participants, and Gardens members.