Siri Sasyotsava 2026 Turns Kadri Park Into a Plant and Small-Business Bazaar

Kadri Park in Mangaluru has become a working marketplace for plant growers and home-based food producers, as the three-day Siri Sasyotsava 2026 opened on Friday, Oct 31, 2026. The Siri Horticultural Association, an affiliated body of the Department of Horticulture, runs the festival, which runs through the weekend at the park.

The display floor covers miniature orange trees in fruit, bonsai specimens, flowering varieties, and saplings of okra, cucumber, drumstick and cowpea, alongside medicinal plants. Terrace gardening enthusiasts and kitchen garden lovers are the core audience, and organisers have paired the plants with commercial stalls selling agricultural equipment, food products, fresh locally grown vegetables and homemade goods.

Who is selling at the festival?

The vendor list reads like a census of side hustles from across Karnataka. Pavan Kulkarni, an IT professional from Agadi village in Haveri district, works in Bengaluru but spends his holidays exhibiting and selling homemade products. His family operation runs on its own supply chain.

"We belong to a joint family with 15 to 20 members, and we have 15 cows at home. Using cow dung, we prepare cow-dung incense cups, cones and natural incense sticks, which we market under the brand name Sri Gurudev Aroma Industries," Kulkarni said.

Manjula from Padavinangady sells lotus and water lily plants, walking buyers through named varieties — Pink Flamingo, White Nugwang, Ossa and Blue Whistle — with photographs on display. Her operation is larger than a hobby.

"I grow around 90 varieties of water lilies at home. Spending time with plants gives me peace of mind. Customers also visit my home to purchase the plants," she said.

Deeksha from Shaktinagar draws crowds with homemade organic juices in five flavours: ginger lemon, punarpuli, amla, jeera masala and jamun-amla. She offers samples to passing customers. Nethra from Holalkere in Chitradurga district represents a different trade entirely — her family has worked in the clothing business for four generations, and she has brought a collection of women's garments to the park.

What else is on the stalls?

Beyond plants and juices, the festival sells jewellery, regional delicacies from different districts of Karnataka, vegetable seeds, honey, agricultural machinery and household products.

One stall is testing a gap in the local market. Kumar and Yatheesh from Mangaluru have recently entered the non-vegetarian pickle business, offering prawn pickle, garlic dry and Schezwan chicken pickle. Visitors have taken interest, noting that non-vegetarian pickles are rarely available for sale in the region — a signal the two founders can read as early demand validation for their venture.

Who opened the event?

Joint Director of the Department of Horticulture I.K. Doddani inaugurated the festival. Deputy Director K. Praveen, officer Pradeep D'Souza and representatives of Raitha Koota Pratishthana attended the opening.

The festival's format — plants as the draw, home enterprises as the revenue — gives small producers a low-cost route to urban customers they would otherwise reach only through word of mouth, as Manjula's home-visit buyers illustrate. For vendors like Kulkarni and the Mangaluru pickle pair, the weekend's sales will gauge whether their side businesses justify scaling beyond district exhibitions.