Kiku Matsuri 2026 Japanese festival at Hangar 858

Kiku, the San Diego nonprofit serving the Nikkei community, hosts Kiku Matsuri on Sunday, October 25, 2026 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Hangar 858 (3760 Glenn H. Curtiss Road) in Kearny Mesa. Last year's inaugural Akimatsuri drew more than 1,600 people. The 2026 edition keeps the community festival frame but rebrands and scales up at a working-airfield venue with indoor and outdoor stages.

The rename matters for locals who attended Akimatsuri in 2025: same nonprofit, new name, bigger footprint. Kiku frames the festival as Japanese culture built by San Diego locals for San Diego locals, distinct from the temple Obon circuit that scatters across Vista, San Diego, and North County each summer. Hangar 858 sits on a working airfield in the Convoy-adjacent industrial corridor, with private jets visible inside the hangar and Bon Odori spilling onto the tarmac-side outdoor stage.

Tickets run $10 general admission, $5 youth ages 13–18, and $75 VIP on kiku.org. Kids 12 and under and seniors 65+ enter free. The posted schedule includes taiko from BTSD and Naruwan Taiko, preschool and youth sets, pop and cultural acts, a tsuna-cutting demo, and a closing Bon Odori block with Tempura Girls at 4:30 p.m. Food, beer, and sake sell on site. Outside food and drinks are not allowed. Organizers note limited parking, encourage carpooling, and close admission at 4:30 p.m.

Who this is for: families who want a matsuri with a published timetable, temple Obon alumni who want a new venue, and Convoy diners who can pair ramen afterward. The hangar setting is unusual enough to be the story: you are dancing Bon Odori beside aviation infrastructure, not only on a temple lawn.

The festival lands two weeks after GASD Navratri Night 2 downtown, which gives October a clear split: Gujarati garba mid-month, Japanese matsuri on the 25th, then SDAFF season in November for film readers.

Marketplace vendors, family activity booths, and the indoor jet display give non-dancers something to do between stage sets. Honu Sumo runs kids-area demos per the published timetable. If you have attended Obon at Buddhist Temple of San Diego or Vista, expect a faster pace and more pop-cultural mixing on the outdoor stage.

Kearny Mesa's industrial lots mean rideshare drop-off may be easier than circling for parking. Arrive before the 4:30 p.m. admission cutoff if you want the full Bon Odori closer; the published schedule stacks the circle dance at the end of the outdoor stage run.

Our take: choose Kiku Matsuri when you want Bon Odori and taiko in a hangar, not another free cottage lawn. Buy tickets early if you want VIP seating; general admission is still a paid door unlike Balboa Park cottage days.

When: October 25, 2026 (11 a.m.–6 p.m.; admission closes 4:30 p.m.)
Where: Hangar 858, 3760 Glenn H. Curtiss Road, San Diego, CA 92123

Tickets and the live schedule on kiku.org/kikumatsuri.