Obon Festival celebrates Asian American heritage in Salinas

The Japanese community in Salinas came out to celebrate their cultural roots at the Obon Festival at the Buddhist Temple in Chinatown on Sunday.

Festival goers got to see the Japanese art of Bonsai, where cultivators grow smaller versions of full size trees.

The festival also showcased traditional Japanese flower arrangements known as Ikebana. It is an art form that goes back to the 7th century when flowers were offered at altars.

The Japanese had a long history for being flower growers in the Central Coast starting in the late 1960s. It was a vibrant business until Columbian flower imports brought cheaper items into the market in the 1980s.

A son of one of the original Japanese flower growers spoke to KION.

“My dad was actually the initial eight families in the Salinas Valley that started with Yoshimi Shibata. He’s one of the premier flower growers in the San Francisco area. And then he came down to Salinas,” said Davis Onitsuka, whose father founded Onitsuka Greenhouse. “They were looking along the West Coast looking for an ideal location, they came across Salinas and because of the weather, it was ideal to grow flowers here.”

Onitsuka Greenhouse closed for good in 2014. He says at one point there were about 80 flower growers in Salinas, but now it is down to about two.