On Monday, Feb. 15, Animal Crossing: New Horizons players can celebrate Festivale with Pavé, a returning NPC who absolutely loves to dance. Starting at 5 a.m. Monday and going for a full 24 hours, players can catch colorful feathers from the sky and trade them for Festivale furniture items, which can be customized using more feathers.
When players log in to New Horizons on Feb. 15, Isabelle will announce the event in her regular news broadcast. She and the other island NPCs, including Tom Nook, his sons and the Able sisters will all be wearing a Festivale Accessory, which is the feathered headdress that comes in four colors -- red, purple, blue and green.
How to Participate in Festivale in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
When players go to the plaza in front of Resident Services, they'll see their villagers dancing around in their own Festivale outfits, as well as Pavé -- a rainbow feathered peacock dressed in a glittery dance outfit -- standing on a Festivale stage with a colorful arch behind it. If they talk to Pavé without first donning Festivale wear of their own, he'll tell them to change. At the Ables Sisters tailors shop, players will find every available Festivale outfit to get in the spirit of the event.
Once players are appropriately dressed, Pavé will explain how the event works. Basically, players need to catch feathers as they float through the sky and then bring them to Pavé for rewards. Red, purple, blue, green and rainbow feathers can be found floating around the island, and the four basic colors will stack in sets of three in the player's inventory.
Rainbow feathers don't stack, and are much harder to find -- so Pavé will also give the player a DIY recipe for them. Crafting rainbow feathers requires one of each base color.
Each time the player gives Pavé a stack of three matching feathers (or a rainbow feather), he'll reward them with a Festivale furniture item that matches the color of the feathers they gave him. Once they've given him enough feathers to get the complete set of furniture that was previously available in Nook's Cranny during the first two weeks of February, he'll give them a special task: Find or craft three rainbow feathers.
Giving Pavé three rainbow feathers will net the player a Festivale Float, which is a golden bust of Pavé that lights up, plays music and moves if the player stands in front of it and presses A. This item cannot be customized, though the rest of the Festivale furniture set can -- with feathers.
Customizing requires three feathers of the same color, and there are five colorways for each item (minus the float): Red, purple, green, blue and rainbow. Catching as many as possible is recommended for players who want to decorate their islands in the furniture items and customize them to the right colors.
Each time the player gives Pavé feathers, he'll also do special dances, which are delightful to behold.
Trading Feathers With Villagers
As Animal Crossing: New Horizons players run around catching feathers, they'll encounter villagers -- both inside and outside their homes -- wearing their Festivale best. Whenever a player talks to a villager, if they have a feather (or two, or three) in their inventory that matches the villager's outfit, the villager will ask the player to trade for another color feather. Sometimes, when a player catches a feather, if a villager nearby is wearing that color, they'll run up to the player expectantly so they can discuss a trade.
This is a great way to get new feather colors if the player is having a hard time finding certain ones on their island, and it's a great way to involve villagers in the event. As mentioned above, villagers will also dance around the island in the spirit of Festivale.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now for Nintendo Switch. The Festivale event will take place all day on Monday, Feb. 15.