It is that time of year where that thousands of people flock to Washington D.C. to view and participate in the festivities of

The National Cherry Blossom Festival (NCBF).    If you have never visited the NCBF I hope some day you will be able to attend this, not only beautiful, but rich in history event.  

History of the Trees and Festival

The National Cherry Blossom Festival annually commemorates the 1912 gift to the city of Washington of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to enhance the growing friendship between the United States and Japan and celebrate the continued close relationship between our two peoples. 

In a simple ceremony on March 27, 1912, First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first two of these trees on the north bank of the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park. By 1915 the United States government had responded with a gift of flowering dogwood trees to the people of Japan. In 1927, a group of American school children reenacted the initial planting; the first festival was held in 1935, sponsored by civic groups in the nation's capital. 

Three thousand, eight hundred more trees were accepted in 1965 by First Lady Lady Bird Johnson. In 1981 the cycle of giving came full circle. Japanese horticulturalists came to take cuttings from our trees to replace Yoshino cherry trees in Japan which had been destroyed in a flood. With this return gift, the trees again fulfilled their roles as a symbol and agent of friendship. The most recent event in this cycle occurred in the fall of 1999. It involved the formal planting in the Tidal Basin of a new generation of cuttings from a famous Japanese cherry tree in Gifu province reputed to be over 1500 years old.

In 1994 the Festival was expanded to two weeks to accommodate the many activities that happen during the trees blooming. Today the National Cherry Blossom Festival is coordinated by the National Cherry Blossom Festival, Inc., an umbrella organization consisting of representatives of business, civic and governmental organizations. Over a million people visit Washington each year to admire the blossoming cherry trees and participate in the Festival that heralds the beginning of spring in the nation's capital.  

Official National Cherry Blossom Festival Merchandise 

  2008 Festival merchandise is officially on sale through the on-line store!   Click here to start shopping for National Cherry Blossom Festival merchandise.  Also, if  you are in Washington DC, shop for official Festival merchandise at the Gift Shops at the Jefferson Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial . 

The 2008 Festival Artwork was created   Jim Starr of Jim Starr Illustration in Stewartstown, PA. Jim received his BFA in Illustration from Carnegie Mellon University in 1982. He gained valuable illustration experience at Eucalyptus Tree Studios in Baltimore, from 1984-1988 and has been self-employed ever since. Today, Jim primarily illustrates electronically, but also continues to work in traditional techniques. He is a member of the Illustrator's Club of Washington DC. To view additional works by Jim Starr, please visit   http://www.jimstarr.com/

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