Kawaii Fall Festival

Hello! Welcome to The Kawaii Fall Festival!

We would love to have your help making this into something better each year!

We are in need of volunteers and staff for a range of tasks:

• Volunteers are unpaid helpers that do receive a few perks in exchange for their assitance. Perks include: Water bottles & snacks to refuel at the Info Booth, a voucher for a free warm drink & snack from the Maid Cafe booth, a 10% booth discount if you're also a vendor, take home a Kodama tea light from the scavenger hunt, and a cute volunteer lanyard :)
  • Help with setup (12pm-4pm) this is the time to setup equipment, booth items such as tents, tables, and chairs, signs, string lights, etc.
  • Help vendors and attendees throughout the event (4pm-9pm) with directions, setup, water bottles, and activity booths.
  • Help vendors with cleanup (8:30pm-10pm) this is the time to help vendors break down their booths (if needed), fold up chairs, tables, and tents as vendors finish cleaning up, and then collect all of these items to put on a collection truck at the end. We also will collect any trash left behind to go into the trashcans along the sidewalk, and clean up the activity booths and stage areas. 
• Staff are volunteers with added responsibilities. Staff will be paid a $50 stipend for these additional responsibilities, a staff t-shirt, and will receive the volunteer perks as well. 
  • Organize the Free Activities (2pm-9:30pm)
    • There will be two events that will need someone to take charge :) 
      • Kawaii Fashion Showcase
        • This is a free to participate activity for attendees to show off their favorite kawaii outfits from lolitawear to harajuku fashion! Overall this is a simple showcase - no particular prizes as it is not a contest. Just an opportunity to walk the stage to show off one's outfits and share how they made it or where they bought it from, sharing the joys of their outfits or collections with fellow enthusiasts. 
        • Your role for this is to take sign ups at the Info Booth leading up to the showtime (4-6pm), with you being the host for the Showcase being from 6-7pm (or end earlier if there's not a lot of participants)
      • Scavenger Hunt: Mononoke Kodamas
        • For this activity, attendees will approach the Info Desk to start the search for the kodamas, then they must walk around the festival to search for these kodamas along with hints where to find the next ones. They must present a selfie with the final kodama to a staff or volunteer at the Info Desk to obtain a prize. 
        • Your role for this is to organize the scavenger hunt itself - finding unique spots to hide them (could be within our activity booths, in the  AP shop, or at vendor booths) with the first one at the Info Desk to get it going, working with vendors who would like to participate, and putting together the prizes for winners. This is a passive activity during the event, so most of the work for this is planning beforehand.
  • Manage the Activity Tent (1pm-9:30pm)
    • The Activity Tent is where special fun activities will take place. Attendees can play a few games such as Ring Toss (on Ramune bottles), Goldfish (toy) scooping, and ghibli-themed souvenir crafts.
      •  You will need to be present to run these activities (reset the games occasionally, give instructions for attendees), take their activity tickets, and give out prizes to winners of the games. We will need some help with putting it all together as well during setup, and packing up at the end of the event. A volunteer or other staff member should be able to relieve you for a break.

General Information: 

• The Kawaii Fall Festival is open October 17th as an evening market-type event from 4pm-9pm. Setup is 12pm-4pm. Cleanup is 8:30pm-10pm.
• For all vendors and staff, anything you may need to unload you may do so by pulling up your vehicle to the lot, then park your car either on the street or at the Oak Park Shopping Center lot across the street. 
• There will be some water bottles & snacks available at the Info Desk for volunteers, staff, and vendors. There will be a food truck, and the Maid Cafe as food and drink vendors. 

Hello! Welcome to Kawaii Fall Fest 2026!

This year, we are hosting a simple, runway style Kawaii Fashion Showcase! 

This is not a competition, but rather an opportunity to showcase your favorite J-Fashion outfits with other particpants who enjoy J Fashion too! You'll walk on stage briefly to show it off, and you can optionally talk about it to your fellow particpants if you'd like to share how you made it, altered it, where you bought it, what brand/clothing line it's from and so forth, to connect with other J-Fashion fans! 

Sign up is free, it's just to know how many people to expect. Sign ups will be open until the Fashion Showcase starts at 6pm on Oct 17 2026. There will be one hour from 6-7pm to participate.

We hope you enjoy connecting with other fans of the Kawaii & J Fashion scene, and have fun!