Cherry Blossom Party April 2011
Welcome to Westmoreland Yachting Association
Reports were that all had a good time and enjoyed the crisp cool air and the beautiful Cherry Blossoms.
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The first "Cherry Blossom Festival" was held in 1935 under joint sponsorship by numerous civic groups, becoming an annual event. The cherry trees had by this point became an established part of the nation's capitol. In 1938, plans to cut down trees to clear ground for the Jefferson Memorial prompted a group of women to chain themselves together at the site in protest. A compromise was reached where more trees would be planted along the south side of the Basin to frame the Memorial. A Cherry Blossom Pageant was begun in 1940.
On December 11, 1941, four trees were cut down. It is suspected that this was retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan four days earlier, though this was never confirmed. In hopes of dissuading people from further attacks upon the trees during the war, they were referred to as "Oriental" flowering cherry trees for the war's duration. Suspended during World War II, the festival resumed in 1947 with the support of the Washington, D.C., Board of Trade and the D.C. Commissioners
