The return of the full Palolo Hongwanji Bon Dance was a festival. These two nights, July 26 and 27 were spent talking, eating, shopping, and dancing. As the first full Bon Dance since 2019, we made some changes and built new partnerships to expand our community presence. 

The Bon Dance 24 committee, headed by Dan Abramowicz and with subcommittees for food, facilities, parking, and t-shirts, was firmly based on the experience of Verna Koyanagi, Kay Wong, Rod Morita, and Misao Drummer, plus representatives of the Bon Dance clubs and dozens of volunteers who made it all work.

Meticulous planning and dedicated efforts culminated in a flawless event execution with no significant issues. Even the rain on Saturday night couldn't dampen our spirits as the dancing continued and intensified after the downpour. Seeing happy faces was a testament to our success, a goal we had set out to achieve.

Part of the change from past events was expanding community partners and using community vendors to add variety to our food offerings. We had sixteen food vendors outside, some of which did very well.

The temple food offerings were traditional, with musubi, meat sticks, and local favorites that are always popular. 

A dozen vendors were in the social hall, selling crafts, plants, Japanese clothing, ornaments, paintings, and massages. Some of these vendors picked up customers during the rain on Saturday evening and thrived, remaining crowded until the end. Their success is a testament to the strong community support and the economic boost our Bon Dance brought.

Mina Akamu joined us for last year's Mini Bon Dance, which included activities for kids. She blended her Treehouse Club kids, staff, and families into a significant part of our Bon Dance 2024. The Treehouse Game Stations made our Bon Dance exciting for our youngest community members. Mina also took responsibility for much of the vendor and shuttle management and designed our new t-shirt and advertising graphics.

We plan to expand temple events based on our relationship with community non-profits and vendors. We want to involve more people in what Palolo Hongwanji offers our communities.

Reverend Fujimori held mini Buddhist introductory sessions each evening in the Hondo. Many people came in to ask questions and left smiling.