IGNORE THE "DURATION" OF 1 HOUR. IT'S JUST A PRESET FOR THE WEBSITE, AND DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING.

This is an application form for IKIGAI's second annual Sakura Celebration taking place on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th April 2027. You must trade for both days, it comes as a package price only.

After the fabulous success of the first Sakura Celebration at All Saint's Church last year, we have decided to make this an annual event, showcasing our favourite parts of Japanese culture, whilst supporting our selected charity Safeline.

Event feedback from 2026

Last year, our event feedback was incredible from stallholders and attendees alike. This year we aim to expand on this event and make it bigger and better than the previous year, without losing the air of calm around our celebration that made it so enjoyable.

Members of the public who attended enjoyed:

• The spacious layout

• Available tables and seating to relax

• Sakura wishing tree

• Variety of different traders and the quality of their offerings

• Relaxed atmosphere

• Not too noisy

Our traders said:

• Footfall was great

• They felt looked after and appreciated

• Many reported record sales, averaging 10-20x their stall fee

• Enjoyable, curated and well-structured event.

• Really nice customers and attendees.

Footfall Footfall is likely to increase significantly, due to increased marketing and a much greater advertising budget. Tickets will be split into time slots this year, allowing greater footfall and easier management. This year, we aim to welcome up to 7000 people across the weekend.

Ticket charge

All tickets will have a small charge this year, to help us cover the costs of running the event. After opening our second business, The Lucky Shiba, we are unable to be out-of-pocket for our future events. This year, we are committing to help raise a minimum of £3000 from the Sakura Celebration ticket sales for Safeline.

Last year, in advance tickets were free, and on the door there was a £2 charge, which went directly to Safeline.

This year, tickets will be around £2.50 per person online (or £3 on the door, to be taken by our charity directly). Under 5s will be free. This is still a small and manageable fee that will be affordable for most people, and it will help us to keep the event going for years to come.

Costings and preparations

This year's event is expected to cost about 40% more than last year. Our team put in roughly 500 hours of free labour in the administration, leafleting, event set up, event breakdown and planning last year. This year, we will need a lot of paid help in order to pull off an event of this size. Our advertising costs alone (due to us no longer being able to distribute 10-20,000 leaflets door to door by hand) will increase to around £5000. These increased costs and preparations will translate into a better and busier event for everyone. Thank you for supporting the growth of IKIGAI Sakura Celebration.

About the event:

• What is it? A Japanese cultural event with stallholders, food vendors, workshops and experiences.

• Can anyone trade? We carefully select each trader to ensure they fit the brief of the event. All of our traders must be Japanese-inspired. We also have minimum requirements regarding your insurance and ability to fill out a risk assessment. There is a set capacity for different kinds of traders to ensure the market isn't too saturated with the same types of business. Diversity ensures all traders are able to take home a good amount of money from our events.

• How much is a standard stall? A standard stall is approximately 6ft by 2ft, with the table provided. These stalls are £150 for the weekend.

• How much is a food stall? Food stalls have 2x 6 ft tables as standard. We only allow a very limited number of food stalls to make sure food stall traders have very little, if any, food waste. It also eliminates competition for food traders. These stalls are £350 for the weekend They do include electricity.

• Do you have smaller artist tables available? Yes, we do! We have 4ft by 2ft tables for artists and small businesses who don't require as much space. These are £75 for the weekend. Tables are provided for you.

• I only want to trade on the Saturday, is that possible? Unfortunately, this is a two-day event, which means our traders must be available to trade for Sunday too. There are no single-day tables available.

• I get cold easily; can I bring a heater to plug in? Unfortunately, with the building being a church, it costs £1 a minute for the heating. Space heaters are very expensive to run, and the church offers us a price that does not include additional heaters. This is an April event and indoors. It shouldn't be too cold, but please bring a jumper with you. We have also got access to a small kitchen for traders to make hot drinks and refill water bottles. There is also a cafe on site. Please keep in mind that plug sockets are for charging your phones, card readers and other small, low-powered devices.

• Is there internet available? Yes, there is internet available on site for you to use for your card readers and payment devices. We recommend ensuring you have mobile data too, in the rare case of an outage.

• What do I do with my rubbish? We will have recycling bins on site, and limited general waste. We request that you carefully separate your waste into the bins provided.

• What insurance do I need? You'll need a minimum of £5 million Public Liability Insurance to trade with us.

• Is fan art allowed? What about AI? We understand the value of fan art but would like to ensure this is kept to no more than 15% of an artist's offerings. We would love to see your creativity and your unique characters taking the spotlight at this event. AI art and AI-based traders are not permitted to trade. Our posters and signage may not look super slick, but none of our advertising will use AI, and all of our posters and designs are created in house, and are not AI-generated. We are committed to having creativity, skill and human touch take the spotlight. No fake/imitation merchandise allowed.

• Can I use single-use plastic bags/food trays? No, all food containers, cutlery, cups and bags must be plastic-free. If plastic cups are to be used for drinks, they must be made from 100% recycled plastic (no virgin plastics). This is our commitment to the planet, so please support us by following this rule. Some plastic packaging such as bubble wrap, or the plastic cellophane that is used on some commercially packaged items is permitted, but please ensure you can offer customers paper bags instead of plastic bags at the point of sale.

• Is there parking on site? No, there's no on-site parking but you can pull up to load and unload. We provide a list of parking locations and prices for the local area. There are many affordable or free parking locations in Leamington Spa.

• When can I set up? There will be a confirmed set-up time on Friday 2nd April, in addition to set up from 7am on Saturday 3rd April. You can leave your tables set up overnight, at your own risk. The church is locked. Sunday will open to the public at 10am, with trader access from 9am. There is no morning church service on this Sunday.

• What are the trading hours? Trading hours are 9am - 7pm Saturday and 10am - 6:30pm on Sunday.

• Is there anythng happening after the event in the evening? We are planning an after-party at The Lucky Shiba that weekend, in partnership with Kirin Ichiban. We have not finalised the details, but it'll be available for our traders to come along to. Kanpai!

• What happens if I need to cancel my table, can I get a refund? We recommend only booking if you are sure you are able to come. We are unable to offer refunds (like many events) to traders who decide not to come, or can't make it for other reasons. This is because we have to submit a lot of forms very early on, including insurance documents and risk assessments from our traders, to our event insurance company. We are unable to fill last-minute table spots due to time, planning and document requirements.

• How many staff can I have with me? Each artist table has one chair provided, and each 6ft table has 1 chair provided. Each table booking can have up to 2 staff lanyards at maximum. Food traders can have up to 4 staff lanyards. The more staff everyone has, the fewer customers we can fit in the building for you to sell to. We ask for your understanding on this matter so that we can make this a profitable event for your businesses.

• Can I bring my dog? Although the church is open to dogs (lots came wandering in at our last event), we usually advertise our events as not dog-friendly to the public due to how busy they get. For traders, you can bring a well-behaved dog that is not aggressive with other dogs. This is 100% your own risk, and your own liability. We cannot take responsibility for any dog-related injuries, breakages or problems.

An information pack will be given in advance of the event. You will be able to reference this pack for all standard FAQs. Please do take the time to sit and read through the information pack once they are distributed. Last year, over 90% of trader questions we received were already answered in the trader pack, so please consult these first to help our inbox not get super overloaded.

Tables are only guaranteed and finalised on receipt of payment.

Wow! That's a lot of information to read, but if you've gotten this far and would like to apply, please fill out the form by pressing "reserve" and following the questionnaire.

Thank you for your interest!

IKIGAI and The Lucky Shiba