By Hannah Harris

The National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., is a four-week-long festival that celebrates the relationship between the United States and Japan, with peak bloom of the flowers spanning various days depending on the weather. 

Over 1.6 million people attended the festival in 2024, with 56% visitors and 44% residents, according to a report from the D.C. Executive Office of the Mayor. Of the 56% of visitors, 17% reported they were visiting from abroad. This year’s festival will run until April 12.

The cherry blossom tree has strong cultural prominence in Japanese art, food and culture, according to a travel guide of Tokyo.

Cherry blossoms, or sakura in Japan, carry a strong cultural significance and are metaphorically associated with the fleeting beauty of life, according to the Library of Congress. Cherry blossoms and cherry blossom viewing celebrations, “hanamai,” have become iconic in Japanese art.  

Aine Heron, a sophomore government and politics major, described her first time at the National Cherry Blossom Festival during the last weekend of March.

Heron said her initial motivation for attending the festival stemmed from seeing photos of the trees taken by her family and friends, and said she “ended up doing more research into it and learning about how it was a gift from the Japanese Embassy.”

Traveler, writer and diplomat Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore conceptualized the idea of cherry blossoms having a permanent home in the United States after her first visit to Japan in 1885, according to the National Parks Service. Scidmore pitched her idea to every U.S. Army Superintendent of the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds for the next 24 years with little progress.

U.S. Department of Agriculture official David Fairchild experimented with the health of cherry blossom trees in the United States by planting the trees on his property in Chevy Chase, Maryland, in 1906. After his success, Fairchild began promoting the tree to friends, family and even at local Washington, D.C., schools, according to the National Parks Service.

First Lady Helen Taft accepted over two thousand cherry blossom trees from Tokyo’s Mayor, Yukio Ozaki, in 1909. The trees were infested with harmful insects upon their arrival and burned with guidance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Over 3,000 cherry blossom trees of 12 varieties arrived in March 1912 as a replacement for the first, diseased batch. Taft and Viscountess Iwa Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted two trees together on the North Tidal Basin, according to the National Cherry Blossom Festival website.

Since then, numerous first ladies have had involvement in the cherry blossom festivities.

Freshman animal science major Anna Livermore believes it’s the aesthetic of the trees that draws people to the event.

“It is a once-in-a-lifetime thing you have to do,” Livermore said. “I feel like I won’t be eager to go back because it was so crowded, but I was so glad that I had gone that year, because it was so gorgeous.”

Heron expressed similar sentiments, describing the crowds as “pretty intense.”

“If I so happen to go to D.C. on the day where they’re there, I’ll check them out, but I’m not going there probably again for the cherry blossoms,” Heron said. 

The District Department of Transportation spokesperson recommends that visitors to the festival use public transportation to mitigate crowds. Drivers should avoid the Tidal Basin area if possible because of increased congestion.

Featured Image: Cherry blossoms in peak bloom line the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. on March 28. Photo by Lillian Gray.