The Sonoma County Matsuri Festival marked its 15th anniversary celebration on a sunny day in Juilliard Park in Santa Rosa.

Community members gathered Sunday, May 17, to enjoy food and activities, and for the first time, participate in a sumo wrestling demonstration.

The demonstration took place in a dohyo, or ring, put together for an excited crowd to watch and cheer. After some brief teachings about sumo, audience members lined up for the chance to challenge the wrestlers and put into practice what they had just learned.

Spencer Gold, who grew up in Santa Rosa, was one of the challengers. Gold, still out of breath, explained that he came to explore the cultural aspects of the festival and was interested in the sumo demonstration.

“I wanted to get in and just get my blood pumping and battle some of these guys,” Gold said. “It was really invigorating.”

Sari Meline, another Santa Rosa resident, cited the sumo demonstration as the main reason she attended the festival. She said it was unlike anything else in Sonoma County and said her favorite part was that the kids were able to participate and try it out after all the education about sumo.

“I was happy to see people surrounding all the way around the dohyo and all the kids who wanted to participate,” said Nathan Becraft from Honu Sumo.

Honu Sumo, based in San Diego, teamed up with the Bay Area’s Black Cat Sumo Club to highlight the growing American sumo scene and show that anyone can participate in the sumo community. Becraft said he was unsure of what to expect but was grateful to see the amount of participation from attendees.

Alongside the sumo demonstration, the event had a variety of programming and activities, including taiko drumming, a judo martial arts demonstration and mochitsuki, in which sweet steamed rice is pounded with a wooden hammer to make mochi.There was also a variety of food and storefronts; there were 32 booths and a food truck listed in the program.

Everything from this event grew out of Mario Uribe’s Seishin Studio in Santa Rosa’s SOFA arts district, explained Donna Moriki, a member of the Sonoma County Matsuri Festival Board.

The festival started with tea ceremonies in the art studio, grew to include taiko drum performances, and, when it outgrew the art alley, moved to Juilliard Park.

The tea ceremonies were still hosted in the Seishin Studio, alongside intimate ensemble music performances and flower arranging activities.

Bo Laurent, president of the board, noted excitement about this year’s event and the size of the crowd around the sumo demonstration.

“This is probably the best attended I’ve ever seen,” Laurent said. “But in my experience (the festival) has always been well attended.”