Marilyn Elder

The Japanese Language and Culture Club of Texas State held its first outdoor Sakura Festival at Sewell Park this past weekend. The event had a record attendance of more than 400 people. Marilyn Elder has more in this Bobcat Update.

The Texas State 2012 Sakura Festival was a huge success -- the main reason is because the festival was hosted outside at Sewell Park as opposed to in the L-B-J Student Center, which is where it's been in previous years. Holding the festival outdoors allowed for more people to enjoy the booths, games, vendors, food trucks and live entertainment.
(SB: Amy Anderson, Junior Texas State Student Anderson... 8.01 sec ... The festival was kind of like my baby, my dream since my freshmen year of attending Texas State, so to see it finally outdoors was the best feeling in the world.)
Admission for the festival was free. The crowd was able to watch performances by the Suzuki Strings of San Marcos, classic Okinawa style dancing, a martial arts demonstration from the Aikido Team, individual and duet performances, and the highly anticipated performance by the Japanese Language and Culture Club.
(Mei Mitasawa, Junior International Marketing...12.07 sec ... I was so nervous, it was my first time to perform that dance but since we practice a lot I was so nervous because I wanted to do that perfectly.)
Coordinating this event was no small task. The festival required a lot of team work and intensive planning.
(Marissa Salazar, Junior Texas State Student ... 19.74 sec ... At the beginning of the spring semester, we were fundraising day and night, officers making food and everything, getting ready, trying to raise money to make this festival what it is today. It's been just a wonderful experience working with all of my officers and the members who are dedicated to this club, and this festival.)
The positive vibes among volunteers and club members were shared with everyone who came to enjoy the night's activities and booths.
(Amber McCombs, Sophomore Social Work ... 11.15 sec ... I like all the music. The music booth with all of the different kinds of J-Pop, I think that's what they're called, and it's so totally different than American music and it's really interesting.) 
The Japanese exchange students were more than happy to see such a large diverse crowd of people come out to celebrate and learn more about the Sakura Festival.
(Emi Kanemoto, Grad Student Communication Studies...25 sec ... It was an amazing experience because I think this is great experience for me and it's very enjoyable. Many American people came, like I saw many Asians like Koreans, Chinese friends, and from India, some from African country people came out and I saw a lot of diversity here and I really enjoyed it.)
The Japanese Language and Culture Club captured the spirit of the festival and shared with others that it is important to live life to the fullest.
(Elder... 12.28 sec ... As the 2012 Sakura Festival comes to an end, we are left with the great memories of all of the performances and people that we were able to meet this evening. For Bobcat Update, I'm Marilyn Elder.)