Last Wednesday, Washington, D.C., welcomed spring with the start of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The annual festival celebrates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to Washington, D.C., meant to symbolize the developing friendship between the United States and Japan.
Running through April 14, the multi-week celebration attracts more than 1.5 million people and includes many events such as the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade and Sakura Matsuri, a Japanese street festival. This year, the peak bloom time of the Yoshino cherry trees is expected to be April 3–6.
Various other U.S. cities are home to cherry trees and have festivals celebrating spring and Japanese culture. Known as the “Cherry Blossom Capital of the World,” Macon, Ga., hosts the International Cherry Blossom Festival every spring, with more than 300,000 Yoshino cherry trees in bloom late March through early April. In Philadelphia, the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia celebrates Japanese culture and the cherry trees Japan gave Philadelphia in 1926 in honor of the 150th anniversary of American independence with the Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival.
Though I won’t be traveling to D.C. to see the cherry blossoms along the Potomac River near the National Mall, I will be enjoying spring weather and checking out the blossoming trees in Wilmington, Del., while running the Friends of Wilmington Parks Cherry Blossom 5k this weekend. How do you celebrate spring?
— Monique Barrett, advertising and editorial coordinator
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