Spring Festivals
Mochi Bonanza - Spring 1
Starting in year 2, head to Rose Plaza between 6:00 pm and midnight to celebrate the new year. The villagers have gathered to pound and eat Mochi to wish for good fortune in the new year. Talking to the villagers in attendance will earn you +5 FP with each of them, then speak to Mayor Thomas to start the festival. You'll snack on some Mochi and then return to your farmhouse. You'll also receive some Mochi of your own if you have an empty slot in your rucksack.
White Day - Spring 14
On this day, you will receive gifts of Cookies or Chocolate Cookies from the boy marriage candidates. If you have a purple heart color (10,000 LP) or higher, throughout the day you'll have visitors to your farm, holding their wrapped gift box of cookies, until it is their time to leave:
- Doctor: 6:00 am to 7:00 am
- Cliff: 8:00 am to 9:00 am
- Rick: 10:00 am to 11:00 am
- Gray: 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm
- Brandon: 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Kai participates in this festival by sending Cookies to your mailbox. Cliff will not particpate in year 2 or later if he is not employed at the winery.
Talk to the visitor to receive a gift of Cookies. Candidates who have a yellow heart color (40,000 LP) or more will give you Chocolate Cookies. Your first time receiving Chocolate Cookies will also reward you with one of the 7 Rings if you hadn't received the ring from the Winter 14 Valentine's Day event.
If you are married, your spouse will sneak Cookies (green heart or less) or Chocolate Cookies (yellow heart or higher) into your rucksack after you go to bed that night. You'll also earn +1000 LP with your spouse and one of the 7 rings if you never received one pre-marriage. Don't forget to have an empty slot in your rucksack before you go to bed on the 14th to make room for your sweetie's gift.
On White Day you can also give Cookies to the girl marriage candidates. If you aren't married yet, giving Cookies to the girls will earn +1000 LP and +20 FP with each candidate you give to. You can give Chocolate Cookies too, but you won't earn any bonus LP for gifting the higher-quality cookies. Feel free to regift the Cookies you received from the boys earlier in the day! If you are married, then giving Cookies to your spouse will earn you +1000 LP and +20 FP. Giving Cookies to the remaining bachelorettes will just earn +20 FP as they no longer have Love Points.
Cookies are a kitchen recipe you can learn from Anna during the second half of a random event.
Spring Derby - Spring 18
On Spring 17, you'll bump into Mayor Thomas in the morning as you exit your farmhouse. He'll invite you to the Horse Races that take place the next day in Rose Plaza. If you have an adult horse, he'll ask if you want to participate in the race. If you agree to participate, he'll temporarily take your horse from you for the next day's race.
Between 10:00 am until 6:00 pm, head to Rose Plaza to watch the ponies. You'll earn +5 FP with each villager you talk to in the plaza. During the festival, there will be three races that take place. Talk to Thomas at the betting booth to either 1) start the race, 2) buy betting tickets, or 3) exchange tickets for prizes.
If you want to bet some money on the ponies, you'll be presented with a roster of the four horses participating in that race. The smaller the horse's estimated odds, the higher the chance that horse will be the winner. For example, if Horse #1 has a 5-odd chance and Horse #2 has a 26-odd chance, then most likely Horse #1 is going to reach the finish line faster than Horse #2. Though that's not 100% guaranteed! If your horse comes in first place, you'll earn the number of medals based on the number of tickets you buy multiplied by the horse's odds. So if Horse #1 won and you had purchased 10 tickets on that horse before the start of the race, you will receive 50 tickets (5 x 10 = 50).
Each ticket costs 100 G. You can buy as many tickets as you have available funds on hand as well as buy tickets for multiple horses. After your bet is finished, the race will begin. You'll be awarded with medals, or possibly nothing at all, based on the results of the race.
Your farm horse will always participate in the third race of the day. You can even buy tickets and bet on yourself if you're confident that you'll win. During the race, a colored stamina bubble will appear above your horse's head. Press the A button over and over to spur your horse forward! As your horse gets tired, the stamina indicator will change from green to yellow and then to red. Stop pressing the A Button when your horse becomes exhausted and let it rest until its stamina recovers a bit, then start pressing A again. You'll need to time your button presses to keep your pace and beat the other three competitors. Winning the race with your own horse will reward you with an additional +20 FP with the villagers in the plaza. You'll receive a Power Berry the first time you win a horse race.
You can still exchange medals after the third race is over. Your unspent medals will carry over to the next horse race festival. The prizes you can exchange medals for are:
| Prize Name | Medals | Sell Profit |
|---|---|---|
| Truth Jewel | 1000 | --- |
| Power Berry | 900 | --- |
| Dress | 250 | 11,800 G to 12,700 G (to Huang) |
| Perfume | 150 | 5800 to 6700 G (to Huang) |
| Facemask | 42 | 1800 G to 2700 G (to Huang) |
| Skin Lotion | 35 | 1680 G to 1770 G (to Huang) |
| Sunblock | 30 | 1480 G to 1570 G (to Huang) |
| Necklace | 20 | 1800 G (to Zack) 1780 G to 1880 G (to Huang) |
| Brooch | 18 | 1800 G (to Zack) 1780 G to 1880 G (to Huang) |
| Diamond | 14 | 100 G (to Zack) |
| Matsutake | 10 | 500 G (to Zack) |
| Adamantite | 4 | 50 G (to Zack) |
The Truth Jewel and Power Berry are one-time prizes. The other items can be exchanged multiple times and shipped via your shipping bin to earn a tidy little profit. You can exchange as many tickets as you have empty space in your rucksack to receive the prize items. The best for-profit item is the Broach for 18 tickets and shipped for 1800 G.
The Dress and Perfume appear as medal prizes after the Truth Jewel and Power Berry are collected.
Exit the plaza to be transported back to your farm (along with your horse) at 6:00 pm. Thomas' booth will return at the next horse race.
Cooking Exhibition - Spring 22
You'll need a kitchen and utensils in your farmhouse to do well in this contest!
On the morning of the 22nd, head to Rose Plaza between 10:00 am and Noon to talk to the visiting gourmet. Bon Viviant the foodie will tell you the category he will be judging this year. The contest groups appear in sequential order from year 1 until year 5. Starting in year 6, the contest entry groups will be randomly selected:
- Year 1: Juice
- Year 2: Sweets
- Year 3: Bread
- Year 4: Noodles
- Year 5: Rice
You'll earn +5 FP with each of the villagers you talk to in Rose Plaza.
After you learn the category, you have to leave the plaza to start the second half of the festival. You'll be transported back to your farmhouse to cook a dish that will qualify for the category that Bon Viviant is taste testing. You will need to return to the plaza with your contest entry between Noon and 6:00 pm, then hand the dish to Thomas to start the judging. If you don't have a recipe to submit, you can still talk to Thomas to start the contest without you.
The higher the stamina recovery of the cooked dish, the better you'll do during Bon Viviant's judging. Not every dish can be entered into the contest. For example, one would assume the Spicy Sandwich recipe would count for the Bread category, but Thomas will not accept it as a valid entry even though the normal Sandwich is acceptable. Selecting recipe entries that have the category clearly noted on the recipe card is a good bet, but bring a back-up dish just in case your primary entry is rejected; you can't leave the plaza to cook a second dish.
Once the judging begins, Bon Viviant will taste each dish and give his opinion as to its quality. Your contest entry will always be the last dish he tries. After eating all the meals, Bonnie will declare a winner. If you win, you'll earn an additional 20 FP with each villager. Leaving the plaza will again transport you back to your farmhouse.
The only time you can talk to Bon Viviant and give him a gift is after the annual cooking festival. He will be at the bench by the garbage can in Rose Plaza from 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm. If you quickly head back to the plaza, you can give Bon-Bon a gift to raise his Love Points and Friendship Points. You can only give him one gift, so make it count! Bon Viviant's favorite food is Elli Leaves, a high-level cooked recipe you can learn by cooking Relaxtea Leaves 10 times. He also likes simpler recipes like Hot Spring Egg, Curry Rice, and Pudding.
The Stamina Booster and Caffiene health potions you can buy from Elly at the clinic cannot be used as recipe entries during a Juice category judging.