A Brief History of the National Cherry Blossom Festival

Spring is right around the corner. Time to celebrate! What better way to do that than to come on over to Washington DC and join in on all the fun and good times you will find at the 2009 National Cherry Blossom Festival!

The National Cherry Blossom Festival is not only a celebration of the coming of Spring. It is also the honoring of the friendship between the United States and Japan beginning with the gift of 3000 cherry trees from the people of Japan.

In 1912, the people of Japan gave 3000 cherry trees to the President of the United States to symbolize the unity between the two countries. The President's wife and the Japanese ambassador's wife planted the first two of these trees in the Washington DC grounds.

In 1915, the people of the United States gifted Japan with flowering dogwood trees.

In 1927, American school children recreated the planting of the cherry trees. Although the first official Cherry Blossom Festival lasted three days and was not held until 1935, the children's re-enactment is still thought of as being the beginning of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Due to the feelings between the US and Japan during WWII, the Cherry Blossom Festival was stopped in 1942 and did not resume until 1947 when it lasted only two days. A record breaking crowd of 450,000 attended the return of the festival.

In 1948, "princesses" were chosen from each state. A Cherry Blossom Queen was then randomly chosen from the princesses.

In 1954, Japan gifted the US with a 300 year old Japanese Stone Lantern. The National Cherry Blossom Festival officially opens with the lighting of this Stone Lantern.

In 1994, the Cherry Blossom Festival was extended from one week to two weeks.

Throughout the years, the National Cherry Blossom Festival has steadily grown and become more popular. Approximately 3/4 million people visit Washington DC each year to see the cherry trees in full bloom. There's no definite way to tell when the trees will blossom so because the festival must be planned so far in advance, there is not always cherry blossoms on the trees during the entire time of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
However, in 2008, the cherry trees gave everyone a nice surprise and stayed in bloom for the longest period of time in over 20 years. Over a million people had a chance to witness this unusual event during the 2008 National Cherry Blossom Festival.

The 2009 National Cherry Blossom Festival is scheduled for March 28, 2009 - April 12, 2009. It will begin with the lighting of the Stone Lantern and culminate with the Cherry Blossom Parade followed by the 49th Annual Sakura Matsuri - Japanese Street Festival.

According to http://nationalcherryblossomfestival.org, in 2012, the National Cherry Blossom Festival will be celebrating the 100th year of the planting of the first two cherry trees in Washington DC. Planning of this special festival are already underway and promises to be the most spectacular one to date. Record breaking crowds are expected to visit Washington DC to see the cherry blossom trees during the 2012 National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Sources:
1) http://www.nps.gov/nama/planyourvisit/cherry-blossom-history.htm
2) http://nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/cms/index.php?id=390