National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC

Easter Sunday seemed like an appropriate day to visit the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, for the National Cherry Blossom Festival, sponsored each spring by the National Park Service. The Tidal basin, for those unfamiliar with Washington, DC, is a relatively small lake, some might call it no more than a pond, located at the north side and grand stairway of the Jefferson Memorial. On its north west shoreline and stretching all the way past Independence Avenue toward the Washington Monument, then around the Basin to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Park on the south west shoreline, are the world famous Japanese Cherry Trees. When in bloom, usually for about a fortnight in late March or early April, they are spectacularly colorful and beautiful. Visitors come from around the world at this time of year just to see them, often planning their trip to the City of Washington to coincide with the Festival.

The trees were a gift from the people and government of Japan, and were received by the Government of the United States on two occasions fifty three years and two World Wars apart. To be more accurate, trees were accepted on three occasions, the first in 1909 when some 2000 of them were received and planted. These were later discovered to be infested with insects and were ordered removed and destroyed by President Taft out of concern that the infestation might cause damage to other trees in the City. They were replaced by a second gift of 3020 trees in 1912, which were received by President Taft's wife, Helen Herron Taft, on March 27 of that year. This second planting, around the Tidal Basin, was successful and approximately 125 of them are still standing and blooming annually to this day.

In 1965 the government of Japan, in a gesture of goodwill, made another gift of trees which were to be planted north of Independence Avenue, thus extending the beauty of these remarkable blossoms to near the Washington Monument. This time the gift was received by Mrs. Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of President Lyndon Johnson, , who, along with Mrs. Ryuji Takeuchi, wife of Ambassador Takeuchi of Japan, participated in their planting.

On Easter Sunday of this year, even with the temperature in Washington only in the low forties, accompanied by strong sustained winds from the north west, the walkways of the park were crowded with visitors, many taking pictures of what by this time were little more than bare buds. It snowed in Washington only a few days earlier and the blossoms were mostly gone. But still the crowds came to admire the few remaining colorful blossoms. Interestingly, many of the people, perhaps even most of them, were Asians. If a family has traveled all that distance, and spent all that money doing it, they will admire and take pictures of any little remnant they can find. The blooms are gone now, for this year at least, but this event belongs on your "to-do" list.