Shinju Matsuri Festival of the Pearl is an annual event that began in 1970. It is a combination of Japanese, Malaysian and Chinese cultural festivals. This is a unique multicultural festival that brings all the different cultures in Broome together to celebrate their customs with each other. Attuned to the "Staircase to the Moon" phenomenon where the moon rises over an empty Roebuck Bay to produce the anomaly of a staircase (sand bars) ascending to the full moon.