Washington, D.C
Spring is coming: Washington, D.C.'s iconic cherry trees will soon begin to bloom
It’s cherry blossom season again, and officials in the nation’s capital are predicting a banner year for the signature pink blooms. To herald the iconic blossoms, the nation’s capital has prepared several weeks of events, including a parade, concerts and fireworks for both locals and visitors who flood the city annually for the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Based on hotel reservation numbers, organizers are expecting the number of tourists to reach 1.5 million for the first time since before the pandemic.
Here’s a primer on Washington’s iconic flowering trees.
When will the cherry trees reach peak bloom?
HERE’S WHEN POPULAR DC CHERRY BLOSSOMS ARE FORECAST TO PEAK
National Park Service officials estimate that peak bloom will begin between March 23 and March 26 and run for about 10 days. That’s when 70% of the city’s 3,700 cherry trees will be flowering. The overall cherry blossom season will run from March 20 through April 14.
Where are the best places to see the trees?
The capital’s highest concentration of cherry trees is around the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial, a short walk from the National Mall. However, cherry blossoms are scattered throughout the capital city’s neighborhoods.
Officials recommend that people take public transportation because parking is at a minimum.
What events are planned?
Cherry blossom time is regarded locally as the unofficial start of Washington’s tourist season, and organizers have planned a host of events. Area restaurants also traditionally roll out various cherry blossom-flavored specialties from martinis to milkshakes.
Jeffrey Reinbold, National Park Service Superintendent for the National Mall and Memorial Parks, announces the peak bloom for the cherry blossoms during a news conference in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The full list is events available on the Cherry Blossom Festival website. Some highlights include:
—The Blossom Kite Festival around the Washington Monument on March 30.
—The Cherry Blossom Parade on April 13.
—The Petalpalooza music and arts festival at the Capital Riverfront on April 6, with fireworks at 8:30 p.m.
How did Washington get its cherry trees?
The tradition dates back to 1912, when the mayor of Tokyo gifted Washington with 3,000 trees. The Japanese Embassy remains heavily involved in the annual festival and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will make an official visit to Washington this year during the festival on April 10.
Why are the cherry trees blooming earlier than in the past?
Officials point to climate change and say the impact may be accelerating. Steadily rising global temperatures have resulted in peak bloom creeping a little earlier each year. In 2013, the peak bloom was on April 9, about two weeks later than the current date.
Jeff Reinbold, the superintendent of the National Mall and memorial parks for the National Park Service, said a hotter-than-usual January essentially confused the trees and prevented them from entering their normal and necessary winter dormant period.
“This has been a puzzling year to read the trees,” he said. “We are seeing the effects of both warmer and highly variable temperatures on the trees.”
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Officials have also warned that the hundreds of trees around the Tidal Basin are under threat from creeping floodwaters due to rising sea levels.
Jaemi Theatre Company, a new AAPI-led theater company based in Washington, DC, officially launches this spring with its inaugural project, BAAL, a staged reading at the 2026 Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival on Friday, March 6, at 7:30 PM at the Atlas Performing Arts Center.
Founded by Artistic Director Youri Kim and Artistic Associate Juyoung Koh, Jaemi Theatre was born out of a recognition that DC, one of the largest theater markets in the United States, had no company dedicated to centering Asian stories or led by Asian artists. The name “Jaemi” comes from a Korean word meaning “fun,” and in its Sino-Korean form, 在美, means both “to live in America” and “to live in beauty.”
“I kept hearing from companies that it was hard to find Asian actors, and I heard it so often that I started to believe it myself,” said Youri Kim. “But through building community with other AAPI theater artists in the area, I realized the talent was always here. What was missing was the infrastructure to connect us. Jaemi is that infrastructure.”
BAAL, an original work written by Youri Kim (not to be confused with Bertolt Brecht’s 1918 play of the same name), is a body horror drama set in a dystopian city where the air is toxic and birth is outlawed. In the city of Baal, citizens are forced into an impossible choice: terminate or sacrifice a family member. The play uses the language of biological mutation and bodily control to examine how systems of power decide who gets to exist and on what terms, questions that resonate deeply within AAPI and immigrant communities navigating structures that seek to define, contain, and assimilate them. The staged reading features a cast of seven and an original sound design.
BAAL plays as a staged reading Friday, March 6, 2026, at 7:30 PM in Lab Theatre II at the Atlas Performing Arts Center (1333 H St NE, Washington, DC). Tickets ($29.75) are available online.
Looking ahead, Jaemi Theatre plans to host a founding party and fundraiser this fall, and will launch an Asian Writer Play Submission program in the second half of 2026. The program will pair playwrights from selected Asian countries with Asian playwrights based in DC for a workshop development process, building a pipeline that connects diasporic voices across borders.
For more information, visit yourikimdirector.com or follow @jaemitheatre on Instagram.
About Jaemi Theatre Company
Jaemi Theatre is a newly formed AAPI-led performance initiative based in Washington, DC, co-founded by Artistic Director Youri Kim and Artistic Associate Juyoung Koh. “Jaemi” is Korean for “fun” and, in its Sino-Korean form, means “to live in America” and “to live in beauty.” The company creates interdisciplinary performance rooted in diasporic imagination and radical storytelling. Jaemi is a home for the unfinished and the unassimilated, where performance holds contradiction without needing to resolve it.
Sunday, March 1, 2026 6:36AM
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The San Francisco Ballet board has voted to cancel its upcoming performances at the Kennedy Center.
The company is scheduled for a four-day run in Washington D.C. in May.
Petition urges SF Ballet to cancel Kennedy Center tour stop as company opens 2026 season
Last year, Pres. Donald Trump overhauled the Kennedy Center’s board, including naming himself the chairman.
That led several artists to cancel scheduled performances.
A statement from SF Ballet says the group “looks forward to performing for Washington, D.C. audiences in the future.”
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At 97, Veteran Harley Wero wasn’t up for a trip to the nation’s capital, so volunteers from the Western North Dakota honor flight brought the trip to him. Wero, his wife Muriel and their daughter Jennifer got to experience Washington, DC, without ever leaving their home.
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