Springfield Sister Cities

⚽The FIFA World Cup may be over, but bright, fun bucket hats are still a hat of the summer. ⚽

Even without a daily dose of futbol, you can show your continued support for international friendship and culture (and get a bucket hat or t-shirt) by donating $25 or more to our Traveling Musician Fund to help Grupo musical Canela from Tlaquepaque, Mexico, travel in late September to Isesaki, Japan, with Springfield's citizen delegation. It's our effort to unite these three sister cities as we celebrate our 40th anniversary this year. 🇺🇸 🇯🇵 🇲🇽

📍The hats and t-shirts are available at the Springfield Botanical Gardens at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park gift shop.
⏳Summer hours from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Mon.-Sat.; and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun.
📲 If you want to donate online, we'll fulfill your choice by mail.

https://peacethroughpeople.org/get-involved/donate/traveling-musician-fund/

🎌It's been an Isesaki gardener takeover at Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden this week! 🎌

A group of seven gardeners and two representatives of 伊勢崎市国際交流協会-Isesaki International Relations Association visited Springfield for this week's 40th anniversary of our Sister City relationship with Isesaki. Along with their week of hard work pruning trees, offering landscaping concepts and updating the Meditation Garden, they hosted a workshop today for Sister Cities members, park volunteers and the operations team for Springfield Botanical Gardens at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park.

The attendees learned traditional pruning techniques and principles of Japanese gardening. After the workshop, the gardeners and staff team were joined at lunch by Mrs. Yuriko Mizumoto Scott, for whom the Stroll Garden is named.

Arigatō and Anzen'na ie (thank you and safe home) to our guests as they leave for Isesaki tomorrow. We already look forward to your next visit! 👏🏻👏🏻

Happy “Springfield Sister Cities Association Day” today in Springfield, MO!

Mayor Jeff Schrag proclaimed today to be "Sister Cities Day" in our honor during a ceremony to mark SSCA’s 40th anniversary at Sister Cities Plaza this afternoon. For the ceremony, the flags of the three sister cities – Springfield, Isesaki, Japan, and Tlaquepaque, Mexico, were raised to fly with the national flags already in place. (The flags were raised only partially to comply with Gov. Mike Kehoe’s order that flags should remain at half staff until July 18 in recognition of Sen. Lindsey Graham’s death.)

Springfield Mayor George Scruggs and Isesaki Mayor Yasuku Shimojo signed the sister-city agreement on July 18, 1986, at Isesaki City Hall. Isesaki was represented today by two city representatives and a group of gardeners visiting to work with the Springfield-Greene County Park Board team at the 7.5-acre Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park. Gardeners have visited several times since the garden was founded in 1986 to help maintain and ensure its authenticity.

In the ensuing 40 years, many cultural, educational, sports, citizen travel and even mutual aid exchanges have taken place with Isesaki, located about 75 miles north of Tokyo, and later with Tlaquepaque, which became a sister city in 2003.

“Sharing our respective cultures through long-standing friendships inspires our mission to foster peace by understanding our global neighbors, just as President Eisenhower encouraged through his citizen-diplomacy initiative in 1956,” said SSCA President Tim Robbins, a professor of Spanish at Drury University.

🎉We have a lot of celebrate next week for our 40th anniversary with our first sister city in Isesaki, Japan! We invite our members and friends to join us for a flag-raising ceremony to fly the city flags of Springfield, Isesaki, Japan, and Tlaquepaque, Mexico, under the national flags at the Sister Cities Plaza in central Springfield. 🎊

Mayor Jeff Schrag and Mayor Pro Tem Heather Hardinger, the Council's current SSCA board representative, will join us, along with visiting gardeners from Isesaki and past and current SSCA leaders.

🕒3 p.m., Tuesday, July 14
📍Sister Cities Plaza, East Trafficway just west of National Avenue
🚗Parking is available in the large surface lot on the south side of East Trafficway across from Route 66 Stadium.

Some fun Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park history from the Springfield-Greene County Park Board 💚

Great news for visitors to Springfield Botanical Gardens at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park and Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden!

🎉 Scenic Avenue is now open!

Scenic Avenue has reopened to traffic between Sunshine Street and Bennett Avenue following completion of the Scenic Avenue Bridge Replacement and Scenic Avenue Stormwater and Sidewalk Improvements projects.

The improvements include:
🌉 A new bridge over Wilson's Creek
🚶 New sidewalks and ADA-accessible curb ramps
🚴 A 10-foot shared-use path
💧 Upgraded stormwater infrastructure

Thank you to our residents, visitors and businesses for your patience throughout construction!

Read the full details: https://www.springfieldmo.gov/m/newsflash/home/detail/13211

𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗥𝗦! We are looking for vendors representing Japanese culture to join us at the 30th annual Japanese Fall Festival, Fri.-Sun., Sept. 11-13, 2026. About 22,000 people attended the event in 2025.

The festival is a celebration of Japanese culture in the beautiful Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden located within the extraordinary Springfield Botanical Gardens at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park, 2400 S. Scenic Ave., Springfield, MO.

Booth fees are $150 for info, $250 for retail, and $400 for food. Priority is given to vendors representing Japanese culture.

It is free to apply. The priority application deadline is Wed., July 1. Learn more at PeaceThroughPeople.org/JFFVendorApp. 417-864-1191.



This year's festival is copresented by the Missouri Arts Council.

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𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘯 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬/𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴/𝘦-𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴/𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘦𝘣𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦'𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘺 𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘦𝘣𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦'𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶!

2026 is the 40th anniversary of the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden 🎋 Stop by the Botanical Center or the ticket booth to purchase a $10 commemorative garden map bandana. Limited quantities available!