Festival time
For a few minutes each spring, government employee Rob DeFeo is the most carefully listened to person in Washington, D.C.
DeFeo is the National Park Service’s chief horticulturalist and early this month, in the elaborate confines of the Newseum, he made his annual prediction: The city’s famed cherry blossoms would be at peak bloom between March 29 and April 3.
The blossoms truly are spectacular. It’s as if a huge pink cloud had settled around the Jefferson Memorial, the Tidal Basin, the Washington Monument and along the Potomac.
The capital’s interest in DeFeo’s pronouncement – he has been right 16 of the last 19 years – is more than just aesthetic.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival, modestly billed by its sponsors as “the nation’s greatest springtime celebration,” attracts $150 million to the capital.
Over the 16 days of the festival – a wide enough window to be reasonably sure of catching the blossoms at their best – there is a parade, street festivals, assorted exhibits and elaborate commercial tie-ins.
This year is especially poignant. The annual cherry blossom rite got its start in 1912 when city of Tokyo donated over 3,000 cherry trees to the city of Washington as a gesture of friendship.
The blossoms are a big draw, especially for Japanese tourists.
Now Japan is struggling with the triple curse of a monster earthquake, a tsunami and damaged large nuclear power complex in danger of meltdown.
The Festival will conduct a fund-raising drive for Japanese disaster relief and have declared March 24 a Stand With Japan Day.
It would be hard to find a more meaningful and scenic place to do it.
Scripps Howard News Service