Spring is in the air and nothing says spring like flowers blooming! With spring comes festivals, alot of which revolve around spring flowers! One of the top spring festivals on the east coast of the US is the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC.
The Cherry Blossoms normally hit their peak in late March/early April depending on the weather that winter. If it’s a warmer winter, they tend to hit thier peak earlier. This year they are predicting them to hit their peak the first week of April
In 1912, the Mayor of Tokyo gifted 3,000 cherry blossom trees to the United States as a way to celebrate the friendship between the Japanese and American people.
Most of the trees are located around the Tidal Basin and each year in March and April, hundreds of thousands of people come to admire the trees and take part in the Cherry Blossom Festival events. The events include a parade, kite festival and the popular Cherry Blossom 10-miler road race.
In 2020, they did not hold their normal Cherry Blossom Festival due to the pandemic. For 2021, they are still not having many of the major parts of the festival like the big parade or road race. They will be having more social distant and virtual events to celebrate the Cherry Blossoms. They will be having a live “bloom cam” for people to see the cherry blossoms from home, like last year. Check out the National Cherry Blossom Festival for the link to the “bloom cam” and more information on the virtual events.
These pictures are from when I ran the Cherry Blossom 10-miler back in 2016. It was past peak bloom and there were still many beautiful trees. While it’s hard to predict when the peak bloom will be, planning a trip in late March/early April some future year is definitely worth it. Even if you don’t get to see the cherry blossoms at peak bloom, there is so much to see and do in Washington DC. A visit to the Monuments and Memorials, Arlington National Cemetery, White House, US Capitol Building and the Smithsonian Museums are just a few of the great things you can do in Washington DC.
Have you ever been to the Cherry Blossom Festival? If not I highly recommend booking a trip to see them some year in the future.
Beyond The Miles Travel Blog 