Obon 2020

"Change Happens - Again"

2020 was the year of the COVID-19 Pandemic when everything had to be shut down to prevent further spread of the virus. The Mountain View Buddhist Temple was not immune to the shut down and closed its doors back in March with the hope of reopening in September. Unfortunately, that would not be in time to hold the annual Obon festival and bazaar in mid July. While the 2020 Obon Committee was well into preparations for a normal bazaar, they quickly pivoted to having an online "virtual" Obon instead. With only 3 months to prepare and execute a plan, they renamed themselves the 2020 OBONatHOME Committee and put together a fabulous online event that was incredibly well thought out and professional.

Obon in a Box

Having a virtual Obon would enable the temple to preserve many of the cultural aspects using videos. However, games and food would not be possible. In order to somehow provide the fun of bingo and the flavors of the cuisine, the Obon Committee created "Obon in a Box". Temple members were able to purchase a box that included Bingo cards, Pull Tabs, and a wide selection of food (beef for skewers, corn on the cob, guava cake, manju, strawberries, ingredients for spam musubi and chicken salad, udon, and polish sausage). Other items that could be pre-ordered included Obon t-shirts, Putra coloring books, and "Kids Boxes" (goldfish game, goldfish crackers, grab bag toys, and origami paper). In order for members to have all these items before Bingo started at 4:00pm, a systematic process was put into place for distribution. From 11:30am to 1:30pm presorted orders were available for pick up at the temple. Members were given an arrival time that was to be strictly adhered to. Upon arrival they found a safe well thought out method of distribution. A specific route was created where members found traffic monitors directing drivers to a check-in station where they would receive a placard to be placed on their windshield. On the placard was the member's name and a list of items ordered. The second station was where their food items were placed into their vehicle without direct contact with others. From there they proceeded to a third station to pick up t-shirts, coloring books, and Kids Boxes. Finally, traffic monitors removed the placards from the windshields and directed vehicles out. Ran was one of the traffic monitors.

Obon

The 2020 Mountain View Buddhist Temple OBONatHOME was hosted by KNTV Morning Traffic Anchor Mike Inouye. Mike is a 3-time Emmy Award winner and is also a lifetime member of the temple. We are so lucky to have him as part of the Sangha as he regularly emcees many of our biggest events (Obons, Keiro Kai, MVBT 50th Anniversary, etc.). Here are a few short clips of Mike during the Obon livestream talking about some of the temple activities the family took part in.