Overview The Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival is a free, one-day spring festival of Japanese culture on Public Square Park in downtown Nashville, run by the group that had planted more than 1,000 cherry trees across 38 Nashville parks and neighborhoods, by 2026, meeting the decade-long planting goal it set at the start. The Japan-America Society of Tennessee organizes it with the Consulate-General of Japan in Nashville and the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, and the consul-general and the mayor are its honorary chairs. It began in 2009, and proceeds go to the Society's community outreach programs. On site The day opens with the Cherry Blossom Walk, hosted by Sister Cities of Nashville, and the festival runs from 9:30 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon on the square in front of the Metro Courthouse. Two performance stages carry traditional and contemporary Japanese music and dance, taiko drummers from Houston, a Japanese rock band and martial arts demonstrations. Around them run the Pups in Pink Parade, sumo-suit wrestling, a cosplay contest, anime, cultural lectures, children's activities and a roving Japanese candyman, with more than 150 artists, exhibitors and vendors and Nashville restaurants and food trucks serving festival-only Japanese menus. The night before, the Courthouse and the Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge are lit pink. Audience Per the festival's 2026 sponsor deck, three in four guests were Tennesseans: 35% of guests from Davidson County, 40% from other Tennessee counties and the rest from Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri. About 35% were at the festival for the first time. The program makes room for cosplayers in the contest, dog owners in the Pups in Pink Parade and children in a slate of activities of their own. Track record Attendance: 30,000 in 2019; more than 40,000 in 2022, the first festival after two years canceled for COVID; 50,000 in 2023; 55,000 in 2024; more than 55,000 in 2025. In 2025 the festival website logged 36,943 views in the week before and 31,170 on festival day. Brand presence Nissan North America was title sponsor in 2025, and more than 20 companies, agencies and individuals sponsored that year, from the Sakura Circle level down to Bronze. The top level puts the lead logo on the main stage banners, the festival poster and program, print and online ads, the website and Facebook, with emcee recognition from the stage, a preferred spot for a 10-by-20 tent and parking at the Metro Courthouse garage. Lower levels step down to a 10-by-10 space, then to the shared All Sponsors signage, and further packages can be customized.