crop
Crop Division
Entry: one crop
- • Choose one crop to focus on.
- • Harvest it repeatedly rather than spreading limited field space too widely.
- • Bring a Gold-star crop to the Day 27 judging event.
Annual Event Calendar
Festivals & Contests Guide
Village in the Shade has seasonal festivals and a Contest on the 27th of each season. Festivals provide activities, foods, livestock and collectibles; Contests drive crop and livestock branding and several major unlocks.
4
Seasonal festivals
Day 27
Contest each season
3
Contest categories
1
Category per date
Yearly Calendar
Festivals and Contests are separate systems
The shared calendar keeps event identity, season, date and time in one place. A festival is not another Contest division.
SeasonTypeEventDay / timePurpose
SpringFestivalCherry Blossom ViewingSpring 12 · 10:00–19:00Activity, stalls or seasonal reward
SummerFestivalSummer FestivalSummer 15 · 16:00–20:00Activity, stalls or seasonal reward
AutumnFestivalHarvest FestivalAutumn 23 · 10:00–19:00Activity, stalls or seasonal reward
WinterFestivalYear-End FestivalWinter 28 · 20:00–23:00Activity, stalls or seasonal reward
SpringContestSpring ContestSpring 27 · 10:00–16:00Choose one judging category
SummerContestSummer ContestSummer 27 · 10:00–16:00Choose one judging category
AutumnContestAutumn ContestAutumn 27 · 10:00–16:00Choose one judging category
WinterContestWinter ContestWinter 27 · 10:00–16:00Choose one judging category
Contest timing: finish ordinary morning errands before entering. After judging and leaving the Plaza, the clock advances to about 16:00 in current testing.
Contest Overview
Choose Crop, Livestock or Horse
A pre-event mail announces the seasonal judging workflow. The current data confirms one category per Contest; it does not establish a later category-change option or a special first-year availability rule.
livestock
Livestock Division
Entry: the animal itself
- • Enter the animal itself, not milk, eggs or wool.
- • Raise Affection to level 5 for S Rank.
- • Keep Mood at maximum, shown as three music-note icons, before entering.
horse
Horse Division
Entry: one horse
- • Horse judging is a separate division even though a horse is an animal.
- • Choose the horse you want to brand and prepare it in advance.
- • Finish time-sensitive chores before entering the Plaza.
Crop Contest
Gold Star → S Rank → branded crop
The crop-quality guide remains the authority for quality tiers; this page explains the contest relationship.
Evaluation
Current testing says a Gold-star crop is sufficient for S Rank and first place. Exact universal harvest-count formulas remain on the Crop Quality guide and are not duplicated here.
S Rank brands the winning crop/type. It does not brand every crop species and does not directly unlock new seed-shop stock.
Downstream value
The winning crop can contribute branded records to High-Quality Chief Deliveries. For crop seasons and quality mechanics, see Crop Quality and Crops.
Livestock Contest
Submit the animal, not its product
Milk, eggs and wool are outputs; they are not Livestock Contest entries.
RankAffectionMood
B0–1Maximum
A2–4Maximum
S5Maximum
Mood matters
Friendship/Affection and current Mood are separate inputs. Cow Ghost can prevent maximum Mood, which can block S Rank even when Affection is high. See Cow Ghost for that separate anomaly.
A winning animal becomes branded and can support branded livestock products. Do not apply the crop 2.00× multiplier automatically to animal products.
Livestock Unlocks
Participation is not the same as victory
These rows come from the shared contest unlock records.
Participation
Goat
Participate in a Livestock Contest.
Chinana mail is the documented availability signal. Cashmere Goat remains patch-sensitive.
A+ ×1
Pig
Earn A Rank or higher in Livestock.
Chinana mail is the documented availability signal. Cashmere Goat remains patch-sensitive.
S ×1
Turkey
Earn S Rank with a Chicken (Chicken specifically).
Chinana mail is the documented availability signal. Cashmere Goat remains patch-sensitive.
S ×2
Cashmere Goat
Earn two Livestock S-Rank results.
Chinana mail is the documented availability signal. Cashmere Goat remains patch-sensitive.
Horse acquisition is separate: Livestock Barn → Chinana mail → Street Vendor. Winning Horse Contest does not unlock the Horse itself.
Festival Calendar
Four seasonal festivals
Use the shared festival records for dates, activities, rewards and story boundaries.
Spring 12
Cherry Blossom Viewing
Village Plaza. Current progression records place the first appearance in Year 2.
Main activity
Badminton
Talk to Komako and keep the rally going for 15 consecutive hits. Swing slightly before the shuttle reaches the player; the timing is easier to learn through retries.
Reward: See the activity record.
Prepare
- • No required inventory item is documented.
- • Practice the badminton timing before aiming for the 15-rally achievement.
Story timing: A story conflict is documented for this event; check the Walkthrough if it does not appear.
Summer 15
Summer Festival
Village Plaza. Available from Year 1 in the current progression record.
Main activity
Festival stalls
Visit the festival stalls, buy limited foods or a colored chick, and use the shooting gallery for a random decorative prize.
Reward: See the activity record.
Prepare
- • Bring enough money for the foods, animal purchase or minigame attempts you want.
- • A basic one-each food budget is ¥1,800: Soda Float ¥600, Apple Candy ¥500 and Yakisoba ¥700.
- • If you plan to use festival foods for recipe learning, buy enough copies before leaving the festival.
- • Buying one colored chick raises the one-each food budget to ¥3,400; this is optional, not a mandatory festival cost.
Story timing: No separate story-cancellation rule is established in the current event record.
Autumn 23
Harvest Festival
Village Plaza. Available from Year 1 in the current progression record.
Main activity
Sweet Potato roasting
Talk to Yuta, wait for the Sweet Potato to glow, and pull it out at the correct moment to make Roasted Sweet Potato.
Reward: See the activity record.
Prepare
- • Keep at least one Sweet Potato in your inventory.
- • Finish farming, animal care, shopping and other daytime chores before entering the Plaza.
- • Enter the Plaza after 10:00 and talk to Yuta to start the activity.
Story timing: A story conflict is documented for this event; check the Walkthrough if it does not appear.
Winter 28
Year-End Festival
Village Plaza. Available from Year 1 in the current progression record.
Main activity
Mochi Pounding
Inspect the mortar, watch Kisuke's movement and complete 10 successful pounds before the time limit expires.
Reward: Mochi
Prepare
- • Arrive at the Village Plaza after 20:00.
- • No confirmed required inventory item is documented.
- • Watch Kisuke carefully before trying to complete all 10 hits.
Story timing: No separate story-cancellation rule is established in the current event record.
Horse Contest
A separate category with bounded evidence
Horse ownership is the practical prerequisite; the current data does not assign Livestock thresholds to the Horse category.
Enter an owned Horse and prepare it through the Horse system. Current evidence supports an S-Rank branding effect: a successful Horse result can lead to branded Horse output and Branded Horse Tail for High-Quality Animal Fiber deliveries. Exact Horse score, affection, mood and speed thresholds—and any additional reward—remain unresolved.
Open the Horse guide →Contest → Greenhouse
Branded goods feed High-Quality Deliveries
Contests are not just trophies: branded records are part of the Chief Delivery path used for Greenhouse progression.
High-Quality Crops
- • Rice ×5
- • Tea ×5
- • Soybean ×5
High-Quality Livestock Products
- • Milk ×5
- • Egg ×5
- • Truffle ×5
High-Quality Animal Fiber
- • Wool ×5
- • Horse Tail ×5
- • Cashmere ×3
The contest-linked records are Branded Rice, Tea, Soybean, Milk, Egg, Truffle, Wool, Cashmere and Horse Tail. Use Chief Deliveries for the full catalog and Greenhouse Unlock for progression ownership.
Spring 12
Hanami / Cherry Blossom Viewing
Spring 12, 10:00–19:00 at the Village Plaza. Do not copy the occasional Autumn 12 typo from secondary text.
Komako's Badminton
Talk to Komako and complete 15 consecutive rallies to receive Three-Color Dango. Failed attempts can be retried in the current activity record; this is not an infinite farming claim. Villager conversations are convenient, normal friendship interactions—not a special multiplier.
Hanami first appears from Year 2 in the current progression data. Story timing can cancel or skip the event, so check the Walkthrough if it is absent.
Summer 15
Summer Festival
Summer 15, 16:00–20:00 at the Village Plaza.
Colored Chicks
The shared festival data contains seven color variants at ¥1,600 each. They mature into Roosters, so they do not lay eggs. This is festival stock, not regular daily Chinana stock.
Shooting Gallery
Each play costs ¥500 and gives a random decorative prize. The current data intentionally does not publish a complete prize pool; examples remain limited to the research audit.
Food and achievement
Documented foods include Candied Apple, Yakisoba and Soda Float. Buy 10 festival items for the safest route to the Summer achievement. A three-purchase recipe mechanic is not canonical enough to promise here.
Autumn 23
Harvest Festival
Autumn 23, 10:00–19:00 at the Village Plaza.
Bring a Sweet Potato and talk to Yuta. Pull it when it glows to make Baked Sweet Potato / Roasted Sweet Potato. Current testing says input quality does not carry into the finished item. Leaving the event advances the clock to 19:00, so finish ordinary chores first. A story conflict can skip or cancel this festival in the current record.
Winter 28
Year-End Festival
Begins at 20:00 at the Village Plaza; the current event record ends at 23:00.
Kisuke's Mochi activity
Talk to Kisuke and complete the Mochi-pounding activity to obtain Mochi. The shared event record does not expose a canonical stamina recovery or sell-value record here, so those numeric stats are not invented on this page.
Kagami Mochi
Bring Mochi to Chinana for the documented Kagami Mochi interaction. The item is treated as a small furnishing/decor record in the current research boundary, not automatically as an edible food.
Seasonal Preparation
What to bring
Hanami
Nothing required; practice 15-rally Badminton.
Summer
Money for stalls, Shooting Gallery or Colored Chicks.
Harvest
At least one Sweet Potato.
Contest
Your best eligible crop, animal or owned Horse.
Year-End
No confirmed item required; use Mochi for Kagami Mochi.
Catalog and Achievements
Seasonal rewards are worth tracking
Foods, recipes, decorative prizes, Colored Chicks, Mochi and Kagami Mochi can matter for collection goals. If an annual event is missed, the practical consequence is waiting for its next recurrence—not treating it as permanently missable without evidence.
FAQ
Festival and Contest questions
When are Contests held?
A Contest is held on the 27th of every season from 10:00 to 16:00 at the Village Plaza.
What Contest categories are there?
Choose one category: Crop, Livestock or Horse. The current data does not establish that the selection can be changed after the mail workflow.
How do I get S Rank in the Crop Contest?
Current testing says a Gold-star crop is sufficient for S Rank and first place.
What happens when a crop wins S Rank?
The submitted crop becomes branded. This is a crop-specific branding result, not a generic seed-shop unlock.
Do I enter livestock products or animals?
Enter the animal itself—not its milk, egg, wool or another product.
How do I unlock Goat?
Participate in a Livestock Contest; the result does not need to be A or S. Chinana's mail is the next availability signal.
How do I unlock Pig?
Earn A Rank or higher once in Livestock, then wait for Chinana's mail.
How do I unlock Turkey?
Earn S Rank specifically with a Chicken. Any livestock S Rank is not enough.
How do I unlock Cashmere Goat?
The current shared record requires two Livestock S-Rank results. It is patch-sensitive, so update the game if the stock does not appear.
When is Hanami?
Cherry Blossom Viewing is Spring 12, 10:00–19:00. It first appears from Year 2 in the current progression record.
How do I get Three-Color Dango?
Talk to Komako and complete the 15-consecutive-rally Badminton activity.
When is the Summer Festival?
Summer 15, 16:00–20:00.
How do I get Colored Chicks?
Buy one of the seven festival variants from the Summer Festival stock for ¥1,600 each. They mature into Roosters and do not lay eggs.
When is the Harvest Festival?
Autumn 23, 10:00–19:00. Bring a Sweet Potato and talk to Yuta.
How do I make Baked Sweet Potato?
At Yuta's activity, pull the Sweet Potato when it glows. Current testing says input quality does not carry into the finished Roasted Sweet Potato.
When is the Year-End Festival?
Winter 28, beginning at 20:00. The current festival record ends at 23:00.
How do I get Mochi and Kagami Mochi?
Pound Mochi with Kisuke. Bring the resulting Mochi to Chinana for the documented Kagami Mochi interaction; exact item stats and condition remain bounded by the shared item data.
Can a seasonal festival be cancelled?
Story conflict is documented for Hanami and Harvest Festival. Do not apply that cancellation rule to every festival without separate evidence.
Related Guides
Follow each system's authority page
This page owns the annual event relationship; the linked guides own their detailed databases.
Written by: Village in the Shade Guide Editorial Team
Last updated: August 27, 2026
Sources: Official publisher and storefront pages, released-game research and linked source notes.