On Saturday, July 16th, Soh Daiko and members of the New York Buddhist Church traveled three hours to Seabrook, New Jersey to help celebrate Seabrook Buddhist Temple‘s 66th Annual Obon Memorial Folk Dance Festival – a cherished summer tradition since 1945. Why Seabrook? The town, neither by the sea nor a brook, was an important resettlement for many Japanese Americans shortly after World War II.

As a tradition, our bus stopped off at the Sorbello Girls Farm Market to pick up some delicious locally-grown produce before reaching the festival.

We arrived at the temple shortly after 5PM to join our sister groups, Nen Daiko of Fairfax, Virginia, and Hoh Daiko, of Seabrook, New Jersey, to celebrate obon with the church and local community.

After over three hours of drumming, dancing, foods and crafts, Soh Daiko packed up and made our long journey back to the big city. We look forward to returning to the lovely town of Seabrook next year, where the people are friendly and the corn grows high beneath the big blue summer sky.