The National Cherry Blossom Festival is an annual celebration in Washington, D.C. commemorating the 1912 gift to the city 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 the two peoples.

The famous trees signal the coming of Spring with an explosion of life and color surrounding the Jefferson Memorial on the Tidal Basin in a sea of pale pink and white.

The 2005 Cherry Blossom Festival will be March 26 to April 10.

External links

• National Cherry Blossom Festival Official Site
• Cherry Trees of Washington by the National Park Service