Rune Factory 5 Festivals: Calenders, directives, and how to win the best rewards
Festivals in Rune Factory 5 are often worth a day’s distraction from normal chores. Since these activities offer rewards like recipe bread, stat enhancements, and weapons, it’s a good idea to try and plan your day-to-day around the upcoming schedule and prepare a bit in advance for celebrations like the monthly Harvest Festivals.
Here, you’ll find a complete calendar of festivals in Rune Factory 5, along with tips on how to win and which activities require directive points.
Remember, RF5 festivals grow harder with time. It’ll be easy to win the first year, but as you settle down for life in Rigbarth, villagers will improve their skills just as much as the protagonist does.
As for festivals that require directives, they’ll each cost 1,000p - 1,500p. If you want to cancel any event, it's 1,000p.
Spring
- Spring 6 - Cooking Contest
- Spring 10 - Bean Toss Contest
- Spring 15 - Fish Variety Contest
- Spring 19 - Flower Festival
- Spring 28 - Spring Harvest Festival
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Spring 6 - Cooking Contest
- 11 am at the Festival Grounds
- Cook the most stat beneficial dish at your disposal and submit it to Simone at the festival grounds.
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Spring 10 - Bean Toss Contest
- 11 am at the Festival Grounds
- Issued through Directives
- The Bean Toss contest has you dodging obstacles and catching little legumes for points. Catch brown, green, and pink beans for points while dodging Failed Dishes - getting hit by a dish breaks the chain combo point bonus. Things heat up fast and RF5 almost turns into a weird little bullet hell, but you'll want to catch beans on their point priority order:
- Brown Bean - 2
- Green Bean - 10
- Pink Bean - 30
- The Bean Toss contest has you dodging obstacles and catching little legumes for points. Catch brown, green, and pink beans for points while dodging Failed Dishes - getting hit by a dish breaks the chain combo point bonus. Things heat up fast and RF5 almost turns into a weird little bullet hell, but you'll want to catch beans on their point priority order:
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Spring 15 - Fish Variety Contest
- 11 am at the Festival Grounds
- Issued through Directives
- Pending
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Spring 19 - Flower Festival
- 11 am at the Festival Grounds
- Issued through Directives
- Pending
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Spring 28 - Spring Harvest Festival
- 11 am at the Festival Grounds
- Hold onto your best crop and bring it to Simone as the Summer Harvest Festival begins. A panel of three judges will gauge your work, with each asking one question that determines your outcome. When their curiosities are satisfied, the panel will decide on three winners to take home a prize.
Summer
- Summer 1 - Beach Day
- Summer 11 - Buff-a-Move
- Summer 15 - Buddy Battle
- Summer 19 - Seaside Lights Festival
- Summer 28 - Summer Harvest Festival
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Summer 1 - Beach Day
- The entire village hangs out at Rigbarth’s beach on the first day of the season. For the rest of the month, you can catch villagers hanging out in their bathing suits at Ripple Beach. Any potential romantic partner here may also have special conversations available to spare a few compliments about their seaside outfits.
If you’re trying to catch all of the villagers here, they should be completely accounted for by 4:00 pm.
- The entire village hangs out at Rigbarth’s beach on the first day of the season. For the rest of the month, you can catch villagers hanging out in their bathing suits at Ripple Beach. Any potential romantic partner here may also have special conversations available to spare a few compliments about their seaside outfits.
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Summer 11 - Buff-a-Move
- 11 am at the Festival Grounds
- To win the Buff-a-Move Festival, you’ll need to dodge Buffamoo with the R-button dash to rack up points. Avoiding yellow Buffamoo scores a standard amount of points, while gray ones net even more. Blue is worth the most, but they’re quick so be careful. The closer the Buffamoo comes before you jump the better, and last-second dodges earn bonus points.
The pace picks up as the clock runs slower, and more Buffamoo spawn as more are dodged. Try to hit over 17,000 points to ensure a victory.
- To win the Buff-a-Move Festival, you’ll need to dodge Buffamoo with the R-button dash to rack up points. Avoiding yellow Buffamoo scores a standard amount of points, while gray ones net even more. Blue is worth the most, but they’re quick so be careful. The closer the Buffamoo comes before you jump the better, and last-second dodges earn bonus points.
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Summer 15 - Buddy Battle
- 11 am at the Festival Grounds
- Issued through Directives
- On the morning of the festival, grab two of your tamed monsters and have them join your party. Make sure you select the strongest two, as they’ll face off against another group to see who gets knocked out first or ends with the least HP. There are three one-minute long rounds, and your team is healed between rounds, but one loss means you’re out for good.
Losing the first round means you won’t place at all while winning one should land you third. Two wins put your party in second place, and, of course, scoring a win in all three rounds puts your monsters at number one for the festival.
- On the morning of the festival, grab two of your tamed monsters and have them join your party. Make sure you select the strongest two, as they’ll face off against another group to see who gets knocked out first or ends with the least HP. There are three one-minute long rounds, and your team is healed between rounds, but one loss means you’re out for good.
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Summer 19 - Seaside Lights Festival
- 6 pm at the Beach
- No special win conditions here, the Seaside Lights Festival in RF5 is all about enjoying the sights. When the villagers begin to gather in the evening, speak to Simone and she’ll ask if there’s anyone you want to enjoy firefly watching with. Go ahead and select your special someone, and remember spending a festival with an NPC increases their friendship level. It’s handy if you’re trying to push them a little closer to romance.
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Summer 28 - Summer Harvest Festival
- 11 am at the Festival Grounds
- Just like in Spring, bring your best crop to the festival grounds and answer the judges' questions. This celebration happens at the end of every month, so hold on to one extra plant you're proud of through the season and enter.
Autumn
- Autumn 3 - Handicraft Contest
- Autumn 12 - Valentine’s Day
- Autumn 15 - Eating Contest
- Autumn 25 - White Day
- Autumn 28 - Autumn Harvest Festival
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Autumn 3 - Handicraft Contest
- Pending
- Pending
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Autumn 12 - Valentine’s Day
- 7 pm at the Great Tree Plaza for Date
- The day before the actual holiday, speak to the eligible bachelor or bachelorette you want to meet up with for Valentine's Day. You’ll need to be dating them first - a relationship status that has its own set of requirements to reach. They’ll ask to meet up with you the next day in the plaza.
On the day of the festival, villagers will give you cookies - a favor you can return for extra Friendship Level points. All of the eligible bachelors and bachelorettes will also start to gather in the festival plaza around 10:30 am and stay for a little while. It’s an easy spot to quickly speak to everyone. Before ending the day, make sure you don’t forget any date planned for 7 pm that night and bring cookies.
- The day before the actual holiday, speak to the eligible bachelor or bachelorette you want to meet up with for Valentine's Day. You’ll need to be dating them first - a relationship status that has its own set of requirements to reach. They’ll ask to meet up with you the next day in the plaza.
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Autumn 15 - Eating Contest
- Pending
- Issued through Directives
- Pending
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Autumn 25 - White Day
- 7 pm at the Great Tree Plaza for Date
- White Day is just like Valentine's Day here, so make sure to speak to an eligible bachelor or bachelorette the day prior, Autumn 24, to set up another plaza data. You can choose to make your own cookies or return the ones given to you, either way it's a bump to a villager's Friendship Level and easy way to a few extra points.
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Autumn 28 - Autumn Harvest Festival
- 11 am at the Festival Grounds
- Like other Harvest Festivals, the three-judge panel during Autumn’s crop celebration will ask a series of questions about your entry. Try to appeal to each judge’s taste to go home with the prize.
Winter
- Winter 3 - Snow Brawl
- Winter 13 - Squid Catch Contest
- Winter 25 - Christmas
- Winter 28 - Winter Harvest Festival
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Winter 3 - Snow Brawl
- 11 am at the Festival Grounds
- Issued through Directives
- The Snow Brawl is a race to make your ball as big as possible before the time runs out, rolling it up and avoiding monsters as you go. Running into one of the obstacles knocks your snowball down in size. Run over as many other snowballs as you can for extra points, they offer the following bonuses:
- Purple Snowball: Speed Up
- Small Blue Snowball: Small Size Increase
- Medium Green Snowball: Medium Size Increase
- Large Gold Snowball: Large Size Increase
- For the first year, a score of over 3.00m should win the festival.
- The Snow Brawl is a race to make your ball as big as possible before the time runs out, rolling it up and avoiding monsters as you go. Running into one of the obstacles knocks your snowball down in size. Run over as many other snowballs as you can for extra points, they offer the following bonuses:
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Winter 13 - Squid Catch Contest
- 11 am at the Festival Grounds
- Issued through Directives
- Just as the name implies, only squid count towards the final score in this festival. The goal is to catch as many squids as possible before it’s all over, so run around Rigbarth, dungeons, and wherever else squid lurk. Arrive back at the festival grounds between 5 pm and 6 pm to reveal the winner, just remember showing up after 6 gets you disqualified.
For the first year, to win first place you’ll need at least 8 squids. We had no trouble catching that many using the Beginner’s Pole at Rigbarth’s southeastern beach. That gets harder to obtain in the years to come, so keep upgrading your fishing pole and make note of where squid hang out.
- Just as the name implies, only squid count towards the final score in this festival. The goal is to catch as many squids as possible before it’s all over, so run around Rigbarth, dungeons, and wherever else squid lurk. Arrive back at the festival grounds between 5 pm and 6 pm to reveal the winner, just remember showing up after 6 gets you disqualified.
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Winter 25 - Christmas
- 7 pm at the Great Tree Plaza for Date
- The day before Christmas, speak to a bachelor or bachelorette you’re dating and they’ll ask to meet at 7 pm in the plaza for a date. You’ll see a special scene with your partner, and have the usual date options at the end (hold hands, poke, etc.)
The love interest that's picked sees an increase in their Friendship Level, so this is a great way to push for points with characters not meeting the level 10 marriage requirement.
- The day before Christmas, speak to a bachelor or bachelorette you’re dating and they’ll ask to meet at 7 pm in the plaza for a date. You’ll see a special scene with your partner, and have the usual date options at the end (hold hands, poke, etc.)
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Winter 28 - Winter Harvest Festival
- 11 am at the Festival Grounds
- It’s yet another end-of-the-month Harvest Festival. Answer the questions from the judges just like before after entering your best crop.