FILE - The Jefferson Memorial is seen amid cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin in Washington, March 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - Blossoms are seen on a cherry tree at the Tidal Basin, March 30, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - With the Washington Monument in the background, "Stumpy," the popular cherry tree, is seen at the tidal basin as cherry trees enter peak bloom in Washington, March 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — For decades, the thousands of blooming cherry blossom trees in the nation’s capital have served as both a magnet to visitors and the unofficial start of the tourist season for Washington, D.C. This year, the peak bloom for the iconic pinkish white flowers is predicted to come between March 28 and 31, according to the ɫtv Park Service, which cares for the city’s 3,500 trees.
The overall Cherry Blossom Festival will run from March 20 through April 13.
The timing reverses a recent trend — attributed to — of peak bloom creeping up in the calendar, almost every year. But after a harsher-than-usual in D.C., this year's peak bloom window has shifted back by almost a week — still much earlier than 2013, when it started around April 9.
Festival President Diana Mayhew said last year's numbers exceeded pre-pandemic peaks for the first time — with about 1.6 million visitors and more than $200 million in revenue for city businesses.
“Every year the festival transforms our city,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said at the announcement event. “It's a big, big, big infusion of excitement and economic activity.”
Organizers have planned a , including the annual kite festival March 29, the Petalpalooza celebration with music and fireworks on April 5, and the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade on April 12. Restaurants traditionally roll out various from martinis to milkshakes.
The cherry blossoms date back to a 1912 gift of 3,000 trees from the mayor of Tokyo, and the Japanese government remains involved in their care and in the annual festival celebrations; this year, there will be a Japanese Street Festival on April 12 and 13.
Fumito Miyake, minister for public affairs at the Japanese embassy, said his government's decision to would be a “birthday present” in advance of next summer’s celebration for the 250th anniversary of American independence.
Visitors this year will have to contend with slightly diminished access to the Tidal Basin, home to the highest concentration of the trees. The ɫtv Park Service is in the midst of a three-year renovation project to shore up the basin's in time for next summer's anniversary.
As a result, parts of the basin will be off limits and fenced off. More than 100 of the trees had to be cut down as part of the project and will be replanted.
Devotees of Stumpy — the gnarled tree that became an internet celebrity — will not be able to visit the icon in person. Stumpy was for the renovations, but live on, waiting to be planted when the work is done.
Organizers this year have added an event to honor the city's most famous tree — a March 20.
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