The Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington D.C. 2009

The Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington D.C. is a gigantic event that normally draws upwards of 110,000 people. This parade provides fun for all ages, with events that are sure to please everybody. It is necessary to plan your day at the Cherry Blossom Parade due to the sheer number of people. Here is some information that may help you guide your day:

The Cherry Blossom Parade will be happening on April 4th, from 10 A.M. to Noon, beginning at 7th street and ending around 17th street along Constitution Avenue. The Cherry Blossom parade passes by many attractions that are worth visiting such as the White House and the Department of Justice. Feel free to straggle on and off the parade course if you see something that you would like to visit. Try to plan ahead on what you are going to visit along the way as the Cherry Blossom parade will only last for about two hours.

Due to the Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington D.C. being one of the biggest events in one of the most tourist heavy cities, parking will be severely limited and hotels will be packed as well. Try to avoid driving and parking around this area of Washington D.C. as much as possible. Your two best options are either the metro station, or good old walking. The closest metro stations to the parade are: Federal Triangle, Archives/Navy Memorial, and Smithsonian. Try to get a hotel relatively close to these stations and walk your way over. It will be very hard to get a good room around the event, so learning about the metro system will help you a lot.
If you find it absolutely necessary to park at the National Mall, you might find this website helpful.

Try to arrive at the event around 8:45 or 9:00 to save your spot for the Cherry Blossom Parade. People in Washington D.C. are very fond of this event, and as such they will have the knowledge of the event that you don't. Try to show up as early as possible to get your spot. You can purchase a reserved seat for $17 dollars at this website.

The Cherry Blossom Parade was designed to display the 3,000 trees that the city of Tokyo gave as a gift to Washington D.C. The event does not end with the Cherry Blossom parade. Following the Cherry Blossom Parade, the Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival will go from 11:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. This is the biggest Japanese street festival in all of the United States. Some new events for the 2009 Japanese Street Festival are a Japanese Zen stone garden to be created by the Japanese Garden Society of Portland, Oregon and a special exhibition of Japanese floral arrangements by Ikebana International. If you are an agriculture fan, this is not an event you want to miss. This event will be at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, on Pennsylvania Avenue from 10th to 14th Street, and up and down 12th Street NW from Pennsylvania to Constitution Avenues. This is a gigantic event and should be more spread out than the Cherry Blossom Parade will be in terms of events and people.

Some famous people that are predicted to appear are:
Mayor Adrian Fenty, President Barack Obama (a strong maybe), Former mayor Anthony A. Williams, Bill and Hillary Clinton (strong maybes), Bono of the band U2, and many other famous figures.

The official website of the Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington D.C. in 2009 can be found here:

http://nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/cms/index.php?id=390