Basic concept of the Iida Puppet Festa The Iida Puppet Festa is a festival of puppet shows jointly created by citizens and puppeteers. What we aim at We aim at providing a festival where there are a lot of chances for the progress and development of puppet shows, further advances in local culture, and activation of the city, with the exchanges between citizens and puppeteers. What we cherish We cherish the possibility that something new will be given birth to through constant new attempts. We cherish encounters, personal contact, and mutual learning, and nurturing people with generous minds. We cherish each person's independent and active participation in the festival. Iida Puppet Festa Brings about a lot of deep impressions and nurtures people with generous minds, all because we can enjoy a variety of puppet shows. Creates great excitement over finding our different selves because we can make use of our own ideas and abilities. Promotes fresh solidarity and warm reliance because everyone can get into full swing together. Gives opportunities to make a lot of new friends because many people with different ages, occupations, and from different communities get together. The "Iida Puppet Festa" is the largest-scale puppet show festival in Japan, held at the beginning of August every year. Puppet show groups of various scales and genres in Japan and abroad assemble in Iida City and perform 250 or more different puppet shows in total at about 100 sites all over the city, at local assembly halls, schools, nursery schools, the precincts of shrines, parks, pedestrian precincts, as well as at Iida Puppetry Hall, Iida Cultural Hall, and Iida City Community Centers. It is a festival with a lot of pleasant events in addition to the puppet show performances, such as parades by puppet show groups and puppet displays in store windows that brightly decorate shopping streets.