Springtime in Vancouver is a time to celebrate. That's when the annual Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates the gorgeous arrival of Spring! Fragrant pink confetti floats down to cover our sidewalks, streets, and lawns. And cherry blossom petals coat the city with the scent of Spring.
Where Did They Come From?
In the early 1930's, the mayors of Kobe and Yokohama presented the Vancouver Parks Board with 500 Japanese cherry trees. In 1958, the Japanese consul, Muneo Tanabe, donated three hundred more cherry trees to the city. Parks Board staff planted these ornamental trees along Cambie Boulevard, in Queen Elizabeth Park, and around the Japanese cenotaph monument in Stanley Park. Ever since, these beautiful blooming cherry blossoms have heralded the arrival of Spring in Vancouver.
How Many Trees Are There?
In 1990, the Parks Board completed its first street tree inventory, and counted some 89,000 trees on city streets. Surprisingly, more than a third of these were plum and cherry trees. Now, there are over 40,000 individual cherry trees bordering city streets all around the city.
Art galleries all around Vancouver will be showing colorful examples of art that mimics the flowering beauty of Spring. Be sure to check out SamsOrignialArt gallery, among the many others offering great examples of the colors of Spring in Vancouver.
