It’s cherry blossom time again

The pink and white blooms of the cherry trees around the Tidal Basin and throughout the area will be at their peak from April 1 to 4, according to the National Park Service. But there’s plenty to see and do throughout the two-week festival.

“My husband, Tim Cusack, and I lived in Washington, D.C., for several years while I was attending [the College of Medicine at Howard University]. We loved the Cherry Blossom Festival,” said Dr. Evelyn R. Wells, who now lives in Asbury Park, N.J. “We are avid runners [and] joggers, so jogging the Tidal Basin and around the Jefferson Memorial during the time of year when the cherry blossoms were in bloom was one of our favorite runs. … [The] Cherry Blossom Festival is so popular that the city is almost always overwhelmed by the amount of tourists and visitors, but it is definitely worth the crowds.”

Festival organizers expect about 1 million people to attend the festival. The event commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to Washington. The gift was a gesture of friendship between the two countries and bloomed into the first festival in 1935. Almost from the start, the celebration was magical.

Kathryn Darden, of Nashville, Tenn., remembers her childhood visits to the festival during the 1960s, when just the site of the cherry trees was enough to fill her with wonder.

“We lived in Falls Church and rarely made it into the District of Columbia, but one Sunday after church, my mother packed the three of us into the old family Oldsmobile and drove us to the Mall to see the beautiful, delicate blossoms,” Darden said. “It was magical to experience the beauty of the white marble monuments amidst the lovely pink blossoms.”

The sights are just as magical today, said New Jersey native Chloe Yelena Miller. She was so enchanted with the cherry blossoms she saw at last year’s festival, she wrote a poem about them.

“It was lovely,” said Miller, who now lives in Ann Arbor, Mich. “[My fiance, Hans Noel, and I] went on a nighttime lantern walk around the Basin … and we learned from a guide about the trees and festival.”

Most events underscore the historic nature of the festival, which kicks off with the free Family Day presented by the National Building Museum and the National Cherry Blossom Festival organization. The Family Day from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, with opening ceremonies beginning at 4 p.m., includes such events as an exploration of a “floating” teahouse and decorating ornamental kites.

“Family Day continues to grow each year, and captures the spirit of the festival with its free performances and arts and crafts,” festival President Diana Mayhew said in a statement. “It is wonderful to see the enthusiastic children with their families experiencing all the activities throughout the National Building Museum.”

Although the events are noteworthy, the best way to enjoy the festival may just be to relish nature, said Jeffrey Swedarsky, of Alexandria.

“The best way to enjoy the festival is bring a small picnic or snack, and find a space that you can claim, normally a bit away from the hordes of tourists,” he said. “Sit in the grass, under a cherry tree if possible, and watch the white and pink gems trickle down in the breeze.

Barry Werner, owner of Scarborough Fair Bed & Breakfast in Baltimore, said although the festival boasts many magnificent sights and sounds, the true magic of the festival is the atmosphere.

“I tell the guests about the beautiful floral confetti that wafts through the air and covers the grounds on the National Mall … how despite the sometimes ‘aggressive’ nature of some D.C. [residents and visitors], the flowers and the spring weather seem to soften everyone up a bit and make them more cordial,” he said.

“What makes the Cherry Blossom Festival so different and special for me is that … a simple tree bursting into bloom, multiplied by perhaps thousands, brings still thousands more bursting onto the streets of our nation’s capital.”