There’s no shortage of beauty in Vancouver, but it gets to another level in the spring.
As the coastal city emerges from its winter slumber, its pink cherry trees start to blossom and cover neighbourhoods with shades of pink.
The month-long festival runs throughout Vancouver from April 3 to 29 and is a great way to take in some of the springtime beauty in Vancouver.
“About 50 different cultivars of flowering cherry trees come into bloom,” reads the festival’s website, “lighting up Metro Vancouver and painting neighbourhoods in awash of colour from a blush of pink to pure snow white cherry blossoms.”
Along with the simple act of viewing cherry trees all over the city, the festival also features a number of events over the course of April.
That includes a Sakura night gala, cherry jam downtown concert, the big picnic, spring lights illumination, bike the blossoms and much more, which you can learn about through the festival’s community events page.
Vancouver’s love-affair with cherry trees started in the 1930s, when Park Board staff initiated a number of cherry tree plantings across the city.
Many of these trees were given to the city by the mayors of both Kobe and Yokohama in Japan.
As the 20th century went on, the city start to move away from the more traditional west coast trees like elm, maple and chestnut to plant more cherry trees.
The population of these trees continued to grow in Vancouver and now sits at over 130,000, with more than 40,000 are showed off through various Cherry Blossom Festival events and activities.
For more information on the history of cherry blossom trees in Vancouver, click this link.
