Summer Festivals Fukuoka Summer 2025

Hi!

I am looking to visit Fukuoka (open to surrounding cities/places) during the summer 2025. Not sure when yet (and I know to avoid Golden Week), but preferably June/July. I've been trying to figure out what festivals might be going on then, and aside from Hakata Gion Yamakasa I've been having trouble trying to find out if there any smaller festivals.

Mainly I am looking to hopefully see fireworks and get food from street vendors and just enjoy the atmosphere. Just from the pictures, Hojoya looks spot on with what I want, but that's in the fall and I was really hoping to visit summer (or if absolutely needed, late spring).

Thank you so much!

Golden Week is in Spring (May), you will not be affected.

Regarding fireworks, maybe this page could help? (I narrowed down the search to Fukuoka prefecture).
https://hanabi.walkerplus.com/list/ar1040/

It's for 2024, but the dates should be similar in 2025.

Yamakasa is by far the biggest of the festivals there - with over a million people attending. What you should also know is that if you want to see it, you're either going to have to set your alarm clock to way before dawn, or pull an all-nighter. A hotel in the Kushida Shrine or Nakasu area would help too - or else hope to find a taxi to go there.
There are other festivals, though not only fireworks ones noted above. In Fukuoka City there is also the Kokura Gion Taiko at Yasaka Shrine about Jul 19-21, with a hundred different taiko groups performing, and a few hundred thousand people go to hear it. Or, Jul 20-22 there is the Kurosaki Gion Matsuri where yamakasa floats are pulled through the streets. If you're willing to branch out more, in Nagasaki on Jul 20-21 there's the Nagasaki Peiron Senshukan which is a 4 km dragon boat racing festival in the harbor, owing to its former Chinese residents, and something you won't see elsewhere in Japan. One more I know of is in Kumamoto, on July 23rd, the Honmyoji Tonshae where hundreds of Buddhist monks from across Japan ascend the stone steps to a feudal lord's mausoleum, with hundreds of lanterns leading the way.

BTW, Golden Week is not a bad time to visit - Fukuoka has way fewer of the huge crowds compared to Kyoto or other more touristy places. In fact, it is the height of spring, and you can see so much beauty in all its glory, like the wisteria, azaleas, and peonies. Plus, you could see the Dontaku Festival in Fukuoka, which also gets a lot of attention.
https://youtu.be/W79LW_iMW3U

Plus, you also won't have to deal with the rainy season like in the 2nd part of June and 1st part of July, sweating like a pig, where there can be days of heavy rain and sky high humidity to deal with.