The Cherry Blossom Festival, one of D.C’s most popular tourist attractions, will begin this week. The festival spans a three week period, starting on March 20th and ending on April 13th. With the trees’ rich history and beautiful flowers, it’s understandable why so many people choose to visit our nation’s capital during this time.
The cherry blossoms are more than just pretty flowers – they have a lot of history behind them. The festival commemorates the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yuiko Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington D.C in 1912. American First Ladies have also historically been involved in the festival. In 1965, Lady Bird Johnson accepted 3,800 Yoshino trees from the government of Japan and held a tree planning reenactment. In recent years, the First Lady has served as Honorary Chair on the board of the National Cherry Blossom Festival and in 2012, Michelle Obama planted a cherry tree in West Potomac Park.
While the events in the festival this year will take place all across the district, the Tidal Basin near the Thomas Jefferson Memorial is probably the most popular location. This year there will be live performances at ANA Stage in a variety of genres. On March 22nd, the opening ceremony will be held at Warner Theater, with tickets being sold on the National Cherry Blossom Festival website. On March 29th, the Cherry Blossom Kite Festival will be held on the Washington Monument grounds with plenty of activities for people of all ages, including a kite making competition for children and adults.
Pets will be allowed at all of the events that take place on the National Mall and in Memorial Parks. ‘Petalpalooza’, an all day cherry blossom celebration with live music, will be held on April 5th at the Navy Yard Metro Station. At the end of the night, a fireworks show will take place that can also be seen from Anacostia Park. The closing parade will take place on April 12th, on Constitution Avenue NW from 10am-12:30pm with tickets ranging from $25-$40 depending on what end of the parade you are on.
This year’s festival will contain many events, and it’s definitely worth checking out. For more information about the festival you can visit the national website here.