While many are enjoying the reds and golds of fall foliage, some people are already thinking about cherry blossoms. The National Cherry Blossom Festival held its 2024 launch event Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan building in downtown D.C.
“Look around this room. We have cherry blossoms in the room, everything’s pink. We’re ready to go with a less than four month countdown until the 2024 National Cherry Blossom Festival,” said Diana Mayhew, president and CEO of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
The launch provided festival organizers the opportunity to unveil the official artwork of the 2024 festival — D.C. artist Nicholas Shi’s painting of pink cherry blossoms filling a blue sky above the monuments on the Mall. The artwork will adorn posters and other festival merchandise.
Introducing ‘Fleeting Beauty’ – the mesmerizing 2024 Festival artwork by Nicolas Shi! 🌸🎨 Unveiled at the Festival Launch at @ReaganITCDC, it captures cherry blossoms against DC’s iconic monuments and a Tidal Basin sneak peek: https://t.co/SXOXIrkPIQ#CherryBlossFest pic.twitter.com/9Eh92FUOA0
— National Cherry Blossom Festival 🌸 (@CherryBlossFest) November 16, 2023
The National Cherry Blossom Festival will be held March 20 (the first day of spring) to April 14, 2024.
Mayhew said during the four anchoring weekends of the festival, “major events and a lot of other events and exhibits and performances all in between” can be expected.
Among the events will by the Pink Tie Party on Friday, March 15, at Union Station. The opening ceremony at the Tidal Basin will be held Saturday, March 23. The festival parade will be held on Saturday, April 13.
Last year, the festivities had massive crowds gathering in anticipation to see the blossoms during peak bloom. Over 1.5 million visitors were expected to crowd the Tidal Basin and festival officials can probably expect that same number or more for next year’s events.
