As the winter chill fades, Washington, D.C., welcomes the start of the cherry blossom season, drawing thousands of visitors eager to witness the district’s canvas of iconic pink and white blooms.
The annual National Cherry Blossom Festival officially began yesterday, celebrating a tradition that dates back to 1912, when Japan gifted cherry trees to the United States as a symbol of friendship. While the National Park Service reports that the trees are in stage four of six in their bloom cycle — meaning peak bloom is near — this year’s unusually cold winter has slightly delayed the process.
On the first day of the festival, the trees were in the peduncle elongation phase, meaning the flowers start to become more visible, signaling peak bloom is just around the corner.
Some local visitors, like Maggie Bodd from Reston, Virginia, have been closely monitoring the trees’ progress.
“We’ve been coming out for the last week and a half just to watch the progress of the cherry blossoms,” said Bodd. “We’ve been enjoying watching them go from very tight buds to now starting to open up, and we just found one single blossom on a tree over there that was wide open, so it’s coming!”
For DMV residents like Niels Jonker, visiting the cherry blossoms isn’t just a one-time event — it’s a season-long experience.
“It is wonderful to see this symbol survive, and definitely in light of all the current international affairs,” he said. “It’s just beautiful to come here and see everybody enjoying something that is a symbol of international hope and rejuvenation.”
Beyond its visual splendor, the festival is an economic powerhouse for Washington. Last year alone, it attracted over 1.5 million visitors and generated an estimated $202 million for local businesses, restaurants and hotels.
First-time D.C. tourist Sergio Hernandez from St. Louis, Missouri hopes to catch a glimpse of the pink flowers.
“We hope that we can catch the cherry blossoms, but I think it’s going to happen next week.”
Despite the delayed bloom, some say the trip is still worth it.
“I think just being surrounded by the cherry blossoms would have been just an extra layer of beauty,” said Martha Kalman from San Francisco.
Jonker, who enjoys visiting before the major crowds arrive, appreciates the peaceful moments the trees offer.
“I love coming here when it’s kind of quiet, so right before the major bloom or early in the morning, and just commune with nature and the quiet and the solitude of it all,” he said.
The trees are expected to reach peak bloom between March 28 and March 31. The National Cherry Blossom Festival runs now through April 13.
