Every year about a million people travels to DC to see the cherry Blossoms bloom. The Cherry Blossom Festival is one of the biggest events in DC. Because of the cold weather this year, many people were afraid that the cherry blossoms wouldn’t…blossom. But recently the weather has warmed up! Last weekend, the cherry blossoms fully bloomed!!

The cherry blossoms were brought to D.C in 1912 as a gift of friendship to the United States from Japan. The trees were given to celebrate the continued close relationship between the two nations. The very first Cherry Blossom Festival was held back in 1935. Today, there are more than 1.5 million people that come to join the festival.

This past weekend, on April first, was the annual Blossom Kite Festival. The Blossom Kite Festival “showcases the creativity of kite makers and skill of fliers from across the US” according to the National Cherry Blossom Festival website.  People from all over the country gathered to show their craftsmanship and expertise, as they put their kites on display, and even competed against one another in order to get audience applause.

When you arrive at the Tidal Basin, you are able to eat and relax by the water, also enjoy the cherry blossoms. When you go to the Tidal Basin, there are not only cherry blossoms to enjoy, but there is also a daily performance every day from 12 pm to 6 pm.

On April 8th, the National Cherry Blossom Parade will take place the tickets are 20 dollars, but you can still see the parade for free from Constitution Avenue between 9th and 15th streets.

If you don’t want to pay that much money, you are able to go to Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival. The tickets are ~$10 dollars, from 10 am to 6 pm. This is the largest one-day celebration of Japanese culture in the US, the festival is located on M St and New Jersey Ave, SE (Capital Riverfront neighborhood). Go out and have fun!

Here are some important things that you need to know when you go to watch the cherry blossoms with your family:

• visit on weekdays (the crowds are smaller than the ones on weekends)
• don’t drive there (there are a lot of people that might want to go to the festival so the traffic might be packed)
• don’t climb the trees  (this is because some of the trees are from the original planting that over a century ago)
• be aware of the roots of the tree because the ground compaction causes damages to the trees.

So get your cameras ready, and go enjoy the cherry blossoms before their gone.