Competitive Festivals

There are three competitions that takes place in Alba. The first festival, can be restored after you help Hugo restart his restaurant. Restore the first festival to start working on restoring the second, and so on. Once unlocked, each festival take place twice a year. The Alba Times will remind you when a contest is taking place.

These contests are winner-take-all. There is only a first-place prize offered.

Equestrian Challenge - Summer/Winter 23rd

After completing Chapter 4, talk to Willis to learn about plans to revive the ancient horse race. Bring him 10 Palm Board Lumber, 10 Palm Square Lumber, and 10 Sunflower.

• The Palm Lumber comes from chopping the palm trees in the beach area. Upgrading your axe to an Expert Axe is necessary. If you run out of fruitless palm trees, you can chop the trees that produce Banana and Coconut. Harvest the fruit and interact with the tree to see the "It will be a long time before this tree bears fruit..." message. Interacting with the same tree a second time will activate your axe. Don't worry, the fruit tree will grow back. Once you've collected 60 Palm Lumber, hire Andy to convert 30 into 10 Palm Board Lumber and 30 into 10 Palm Square Lumber.
• Sunflower Seeds appear in Victoria's shop after clearing Chapter 4.

Once unlocked, the Equestrian Challenge occurs on the 23rd of Summer and Autumn. Talk to Willis by the entrance of Alba Park to enter the race, which is on the western edge of your farm. You will need to own a horse to participate. Horses can be purchased from Philip's animal shop at the end of Chapter 3.

The more friendship music notes your horse has, the better it will run. The horse's health (face icon) determines its stamina level.

During the race, tap on the screen to make your horse run. Tap too fast and you'll quickly deplete it's stamina, a green bar located on the right-side of the screen. You've to tap enough to make your horse run, but not tap too much to exhaust your buddy.

The winning prizes are:

• Beginner Level: 30 Carrot and 30 Carrot Seeds
• Intermediate Level: 30 Black Carrot and 30 Carrot Seeds
• Advanced Level: 30 White Carrot and 30 Carrot Seeds

I've tried with various horses and have yet to actually win the Advanced rank. No prob with the other levels, but Advanced appears to be impossible on my iPad Mini.

Fish Faceoff - Summer/Winter 6

After you unlock the Equestrian Challenge, talk to Willis to learn about Abraham's idea to bring back the old fishing tournament. Willis will ask you to bring him 10 Palm Board Lumber, 10 Palm Square Lumber, and 5 Agate.

• The raw Agate gemstone can be found in the Savita mine starting on floor 11. It is a red-colored mining node.

After turning over the materials to restart the fishing contest, go to Alba Beach on Summer 6 and Winter 6. Talk to Willis between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm to participate. Make sure you have regular fish bait in your bag, which can be purchased from Victoria's General Store. Using fish bait will help entice the fish to bite the hook faster than when no bait is used.

The in-game time will then move to 3:00 pm. You have the next 3 hours to catch as many fish as you can from any of the fishing spots around Alba. Points will be awarded based on the size of the fish. For example, a 2 cm Mosquitofish will earn 2 points. Be mindful that traveling to a fishing spot will also take time. Try to stay around the center of Abla; don't bother going to the Alba Mountain's fishing spot.

The contest ends at 6:00 pm, unless you are actively reeling in a fish. In which case, the contest ends as soon as you catch the fish and its point value is added to your final score.

The winning prizes are:

• Beginner Level: 10 0-Star Rainbow Trout and 20 Lv 1 Fish Bait
• Intermediate Level: 10 0-Star Sardine and 20 Lv 2 Fish Bait
• Advanced Level: 10 0-Star Red Seabream and 20 Lv. 3 Regular Bait

When winning the Advanced level contest, Willis will say you won "Rainbow Trout" (beginner rank), but you will receive Red Seabream (advanced rank). You will also keep all the fish caught during the contest. You'll be placed by Village Hall at the 6:00 pm conclusion.

Expo - Spring/Autumn 10

This will be the last festival Willis asks your help with. After unlocking the Fish Faceoff, talk to Willis to hear Jacque's idea for a contest to find the best farmer in Alba. The idea is that folks will hone their farming skills to become Alba's Number One Farmer. Willis will ask you to bring him 10 Palm Board Lumber, 10 Fabric, and 5 Glass.

• You know how to get Palm Board Lumber by now.
• Fabric is from converting 4 Wool for for 1 Fabric at Andy's shop. Lambs are sold at Philip's Animal Shop for 1800 G. Willis is asking for Fabric made from normal sheep's wool and not the High-Quality Fabric you can craft using Valais Blacknose Sheep Wool. A Lamb will mature into a Sheep after 6 days, producing Wool every 3 days. The more friendship you have with the sheep, the more Wool you can collect; up to 4 Wool per harvest at max friendship. Upgrading your Clippers to High-Quality Clippers (available in Andy's shop after completing Chapter 6) will double the quantity of harvested wool. You need to collect a total of 40 Wool to convert into 10 Fabric.
• Raw Glass Gemstone appears starting on floor 11 of the Savita Mine. Andy can process the raw materials into Glass.

A week before the contest, the local Alba Times will disclose the categories that will be judged. The categories vary depending on the entry levels available; beginner, intermediate, or advanced. For example, if you've only unlocked the entry-level Expo, the Alba Times will only give the judgement category for the Beginner Class.

Beginner level will judge on one contest entry, Intermediate level will judge on two contest entries, and the highest Advanced level will judge on three contest entries.

Before 3:00 pm, head to the space outside of Village Hall. Talk to Willis to enter the exposition. For crops and flowers, have the entry in your bag. For animals, you will select from a list. You can enter the exact item being judged or, if it is a crop or flower, a mutation of that item.

Keep in mind that not everything will count as a valid entry. For example, when the Expo is judging on Asparagus, Willis will accept Asparagus, Purple Asparagus, and Sparta as contest entries. For some reason Phalax is not a valid entry for the Asparagus category, even though Sparta (an acceptable entry) is a mutation of Phalax. That's why it is important to have a variety of potential contest entries in your bag when talking to Willis to enter the contest.

In fact, Asparagus is the Beginner Rank category for every Expo. The points for a plain Asparagus are 30 (1 star), 36 (2 stars), and 40 (3 stars).

For crops and flowers, the higher the star rank and rarity, the better score you'll earn. For animal categories, the entry is scored on affection level and health. For cooked meals, the amount of stamina the meal restores is the key point along with the meal's star rank (e.g., a 3-star Mixed Juice that restores 3.5 hearts will rank better than a 3-star Green Juice that restores 3 hearts).

• Beginner Level: (at least 30 points) 10 Turnip Seeds and 30 Turnip
• Intermediate Level: (at least 100 points) 20 Goldband Lily Seeds and 20 Goldband Lily
• Advanced Level: (at least 185 points) 30 Queen of the Night Seeds and 30 Queen of the Night

The contest will end at 3:00 pm. You will keep your contest entry.