cherry blossom festival at brooklyn botanical garden

This past weekend was Sakura Matsuri, the Cherry Blossom Festival, at Brooklyn Botanical Garden. I went on Saturday with a friend and it was absolutely gorgeous. We were incredibly lucky: this year’s festival coincided with a perfect combination of great weather and trees in peak bloom.

It was lovely walking around and enjoying the scenery and the festive atmosphere. There were lots of fun cultural activities: dance performances, live music, traditional craft demonstrations, etc. I also loved seeing the many cosplayers and people dressed in gothic lolita and traditional Japanese costumes.

If you didn’t make it to the festival this weekend, you can still catch the cherry blossoms at peak bloom for a while longer. The botanical garden has a handy CherryWatch Blossom Status Map where you can see every single tree’s individual status: pre-bloom, first bloom, peak bloom, and post-peak. Some photos I took this weekend:

Tags | brooklyn, brooklyn botanic garden, cherry blossoms, flowers, gardens, japan, sakura, sakura matsuri