William Cusey, a student in the Washington Semester Program, attended one of this weekend's biggest D.C. tourist attractions - the 97th annual National Cherry Blossom Festival. Under a cloud of pink cherry blossoms, with petals fluttering all around him, Cusey sat on a bench at the Tidal Basin, close to the Jefferson Memorial. Thousands of flowers were in bloom on D.C.'s Japanese cherry trees.
"If it wasn't that warm out, you could think it just snowed," he said.
The Tidal Basin, the official site of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, has been packed with people since the first blossoms came out. People from all over the world visit, enjoy and photograph the more than 3,000 trees Japan gave to the United States in 1912.
Teresa Drag, a 1990 AU graduate, went to the Mall dressed in a black and white kimono.
"The cherry trees are almost as emblematic as the Capitol dome and the Lincoln Memorial," Drag said while she opened up her Japanese paper umbrella to shield herself from the sun. "They have definitely become a Washington symbol for me."
In this year's Cherry Blossom Festival, there were many outdoor activities besides the Tidal Basin's beckoning trees, West Potomac Park, East Potomac Park and the grounds of the Washington Monument. Throughout the festival, cherry blossom lovers had to resist the piercing sun, and foremost, rain showers and high winds.
Participants in the 40th annual Smithsonian Kite Festival, titled "Blown' in the Wind," had to resist the weather Saturday as they swooped onto the Washington Monument grounds dressed in rain coats, waterproof boots and armed with umbrellas. They had to run across the muddy National Mall, dragging their kites behind them, trying to get them up in the air even with low winds. But the foggy day did not prevent the many people's faces from lightening up as they finally saw their kites in the air, flying high above their heads. The kite's colors and their shapes - from butterflies to dragons, from triangles to octagons - were actually a great contrast to the grey sky.
College of Arts and Sciences senior Allison Girres, 2008 CAS graduate Gina Mittal and second-year School of International Service graduate student Megan Steehler said they were a little disappointed at first.
"The weather is so bad," Steehler said. "And now our kite will not really fly."
However, after they consulted kite doctor Maggie Engvall in a little white tent close to the Washington Monument, the kite was high in the sky.
"That's awesome," Mittel said. "We finally got it up there."
Later on, the students watched the traditional "rokkaku" battle of the kites, in which competitors tried to ground their opponents' kites.
While kite-fans had to fight the wet drizzle and the mud, visitors to Saturday's opening ceremony of the National Cherry Blossom Festival were well protected in the National Building Museum.
Family Day began at 10 a.m. and featured hands-on presentations of Japanese arts and crafts, such as paper-folding and floral arrangement. Children and adults watched a demonstration of "mukimono," the art of carving vegetables and fruits, participated in fan-making, brush painting demonstrations, and a fashion show. The "Anime Blossom" exhibit included banks of televisions offering continuous screenings of Japanese animation videos.
Thirty-five vendors presented Japanese products, ranging from anime movies and manga books to handcrafted dolls and woodwork.
"I love to look at all these foreign things," said Sarah Anderson, a Washington Semester student. "And I just had Sushi, it was delicious!"
By the festival's final weekend, attention will shift away from the sight of falling pedals, as a fireworks display at the Tidal Basin Saturday will end 2009's festival.
"The blossoms were everything I had hoped for - a truly magical sight," said Cusey. "I plan to celebrate their beauty for years to come."
You can reach this writer at news@theeagleonline.com.
