Across the Capital, Thousands Celebrate Power of the Flower

Festival Kicks Off With an Outpouring of Japanese Culture

Clara Abnet-Holden, 7, of Silver Spring flies a Chinese kite during the Smithsonian Kite Festival on the Mall, one of the many goings-on in the capital marking the start of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Events run through April 9. (By Ricky Carioti -- The Washington Post)

What was the sound of cherry blossom season opening?

It was the thunder of Japanese drums, as a gala of music, dance and Japanese crafts drew a crowd to the National Building Museum.

It was Beyonce's sultry voice floating from an asphalt lot next to a boarded-up building, where a deejay was kicking off the Anacostia Cherry Blossom Festival.

It was the click-click of game pieces as dozens of men played in a tournament of Go, a popular Asian board game, in the hushed halls of the downtown Charles Sumner School Museum.

Thousands of residents and visitors joined in events yesterday marking the start of the 2006 National Cherry Blossom Festival. There were tree-plantings, dancing, lectures and a kite-flying competition -- not to mention the traditional stroll along the Tidal Basin, where the pale-pink buds were just starting to burst into flower.

The two-week festival is a tourism magnet for Washington and is expected to attract about 1 million people this year. But it is so much more.

"It's tradition. It's something only Washington has," said Diana Mayhew, executive director of the festival.

"To me, it means the coming of spring. Washington is such a beautiful city in the spring," said Lara Lusher, 36, of Alexandria, who was supervising her 2-year-old daughter, Megan, as the toddler painted on rice paper at the Building Museum.

The festival celebrates the gift from Japan of thousands of cherry trees in the early years of the last century.

Many events highlight Japanese culture. At the celebration at the Building Museum, an estimated 8,000 people folded origami butterflies, studied bonsai trees, played Japanese video games and watched dancers, singers and a kimono-inspired fashion show.

To families with Japanese roots or an interest in the country, the day-long event offered a chance to learn about an ancient, vibrant culture.

"We'd like to give them what our backgrounds are," said Ako Shigihara, 48, a Japanese-born floral designer living in Woodley Park, gesturing to her 9-year-old daughter, Rena, dressed in a kimono for a dance performance.

But the festival has moved well beyond Japanese culture.

At 9:30 a.m., civic and business leaders turned out at Anacostia Park to plant two cherry trees in honor of community activists James G. Banks and W. Retta Gilliam, both of whom died last year.

"It's symbolic of the people who have served in the community and a way of keeping their memory alive," said Patricia Clay of the Main Street Anacostia community group.

This was the third year that Anacostia sponsored a cherry blossom festival tied in with the national event.

In the morning, a group of Anacostia youth swept trash from a lot next to an abandoned building on Martin Luther King Avenue SE. The volunteers then hung clusters of pink, green and orange balloons from nearby street poles.

By midday, stands with white tent tops had sprouted, featuring paintings and photos by residents as well as a deejay spinning tunes.

Dante Gardner, 16, a volunteer, said it was important to get young people who might otherwise clash to experience the "real meaning of the cherry blossoms.

"When they come to the cherry blossom festival . . . they come together and forget about the beef situation," he said, referring to feuds.

The first day of the cherry blossom season was unseasonably cool, with temperatures creeping just above the 50-degree mark. Still, plenty of people turned up at the Tidal Basin, peering expectantly at the buds.

Others said they would join the throngs as the blooming hits its peak period -- expected to begin today and last through Tuesday.

Carole Benz, 41, a businesswoman from Arlington who attended the Building Museum event, said she has lived in the Washington area for 13 years. But she still looks forward to her annual walk under the clouds of cherry blossoms.

"It doesn't get old," she said.