ESGVJCC Akimatsuri Fall Festival 2026 in West Covina

Akimatsuri is Saturday, October 10, 2026, from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. outdoors in front of the East San Gabriel Valley Japanese Community Center, 1203 West Puente Avenue, West Covina. The center’s own festival page is the lock. Entry is free. All ages. The City of West Covina co-hosts, per the 2026 flyer on Eventbrite. ESGVJCC is marking 75 years, 1951–2026, on that same art.

Tickets at the ESGVJCC info booth are for food, drinks, and the bounce house, not for the gate. Those tickets work at the center-owned and program booths the page names: Wonton and Chili Rice, the beer garden, Leisure Club, Chef Sato, Gakuen, Ogino Academy, and the water and soda booth. Other vendors sell on their own. Do not invent a door price.

The shape of the afternoon is Japanese American food, cultural performances, vendors, kids’ games, and ondo dancing on Puente Avenue. A set-by-set stage card is not posted yet. The same window the center is also hosting a National Drive Electric Month display, with support from Edison International and Plug In America, in the lot behind the building. That is an add-on, not the reason to come.

The same Saturday, Showa Alley is 2:00 to 9:00 p.m. at GVJCI in Gardena, ticketed. JANM’s Kokoro Craft Show is 10:00 to 4:00 at Nishi Betsuin in Little Tokyo, free. West Covina is the East SGV pick. Gardena is the South Bay night. Little Tokyo is the morning craft room. Pick by freeway.

ESGVJCC is a nonprofit Japanese American community center: language school, seniors, arts, and this outdoor fall fair. Recent years pushed the festival onto the street in front of the building, not only the lot. Office hours are weekdays 9:00 to 5:00. Questions go to Victoria Castellanos, events and programs coordinator, at victoriac@esgvjcc.org or (626) 960-2566. The main desk is info@esgvjcc.org. Eventbrite copies the free-entry line. Use the center page.

West Covina is East San Gabriel Valley, past the 605, a Japanese American corridor that also feeds Hacienda Heights and Diamond Bar families. Puente Avenue is a surface-street fair. The Eventbrite listing says free street parking in the neighborhood. That fills. The 10 to Vincent or Azusa is the usual approach from downtown. Sponsors named on the 2026 flyer include Foothill Transit and Japanese American Community Credit Union. OC Japan Fair is the following weekend if you want a ticketed fairgrounds floor.

Our take: go if you already sit with ESGVJCC or you live east of the 605 and want a free afternoon. Two hours and one food ticket is enough. Drive to Gardena after only if you already bought Showa Alley and can leave by 4.

When: October 10, 2026, 12:00–6:00 p.m.
Where: ESGVJCC, 1203 W Puente Ave, West Covina, CA 91790