Summer Festivals
There are 8 days to celebrate in Summer:
- 1 - Felix's birthday
- 3 - Wilbur's birthday
- 12 - Dirk's birthday
- 15 - Animal Festival
- 21 - Raul's birthday
- 25 - Kevin's birthday
- 28 - Horse Race
- 30 - Nellie's birthday
Animal Festival - Summer 15
You don't have to enter an animal the day before the festival like in past versions of Harvest Moon. Instead, go to the plaza between 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm to talk to Felix. You can then choose the animal you want to participate. The animal category will change every year and rotates back every 3 years: year 1 are cows, year 2 are chickens, year 3 are sheep, and then it changes back to cows.
To win the festival, your animal will have to move across the plaza and meet you on the other side. The animal that reaches its owner the fastest will be the winner. There isn't anything you can do to encourage your animal; you can only sit back and watch to see if your animal will be the fastest. You will be competing against two random non-important people from other villagers.
- First place is +300 friendship with your entered animal, +1000 FP with the villagers in attendance, and a prize; Cow Festival is Mithril, Chicken Festival is Orichalcum, and Sheep Festival is Adamantite.
- Second place is +200 FP with your entered animal
- Third place is only +100 FP with your entered animal
Just for participating in the festival, you will earn +500 FP with the villagers in attendance
The method to winning is the same for the Animal Festival or the Pet Festival. The more hearts your animals or pet has, the better the chance it will be the fastest one across the plaza.
At the beginning of the race, your animal will indicate how fast it is going to start out:
- Heart - will start out walking fast
- Music note - will start out somewhat fast
- Grouchy - will walk slow
- Annoyed - will walk slowest
The chances that your animal will start out with a heart bubble increases with the number of hearts it has. If you enter an animal with at least 6 hearts, you have a 90% chance (or higher) starting out with the ideal heart-bubble. An animal with 5 hearts only has a 50% chance of getting a heart, but does have a 40% chance of having a music note. With 4 hearts the odds are for a starting music note (and only a 25% chance of heart), and with 3 or less you're most likely to get the slow movement indicators.
As your animal walks towards you, its speed will decrease; a heart will lower to a music note, then to a grouchy bubble, and finally an annoyed mark. After annoyed, there are more indicators:
- Exclamation - the "Dash powers, enable!" mark
- Sweat - "Dash powers, activated! Zoom!"
- Grouchy - failed, walk slow again...
The Exclamation appears after Annoyed, and your animal will either make a mad-dash to try and race past its competitors, or it will fail to dash and return to Grouchy. It then has to get through Annoyed again before it can activate the Exclamation.
 Chicken #2 is winning. Chicken #1 just past through the Annoyed phase and has activated the POWERS OF EXCLAMATION |
 Fate is on Chicken #1's side; the sweat-marks appear instead of the grouchy symbol. Can she dash to the finish line? |
 The slowest bird wins! Chicken #1 was so fast that she overtook Chicken #2 and Chicken #3 to reach the finish line first. |
Even with a low-heart animal, you still have a chance of winning an Animal or Pet festival. It's all based on luck. You don't have any control over how the results are going to turn out.
Also, there is a 10% chance that you will start out with the
Confused marker, no matter how many hearts your animal has. If it is confused, there is a higher chance
that it will reach Exclamation mode.
Horse Race - Summer 28
This festival will not be available in your first year. You need a horse before it will activate, and you don't get one until Summer of year 2. Also, you need to of had the boulders blocking the horse track destroyed before Summer 28. You can do this by going to the blocked race track entrance after you have been given a horse, where Wilbur will destroy the rocks for you.
To participate in the horse race, go to the plaza between 12:00 pm (noon) and 4:00 pm. Talk to Felix to start the parade of horses. After the entries have been introduced, you will then be taken to the horse track.
The winner will be the horse that makes 3 laps around the track in the fastest time. You will be the only one on the track, so you won't be bumping into the other competitors. You may be bumping into the hurdles, so make sure you press the A button when your horse gets close enough to jump over them. If you run into the hurdles, you will lose your built-up speed.
Grand prize is +300 Friendship Points with your horse, +1000 FP with the villagers who were participating, and a Amethyst. Second place is +200 FP with your horse, and third place is just +100 FP with your horse. Just for participating, you'll earn +500 points with the participating villagers; Felix, Dirk, Amir, Sherry, Daisy, Cindy, Lauren, and Kevin.