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Back to Gardens I Have Visited Page Cherry Blossom Festival (Sakura)Sakura Cherry Blossom Festival My family and I went to the Sakura Cherry Blossom Festival sponsored by Subaru the first week in April. Although there weren't very many trees blossoming here in New Jersey, Philadelphia is a little bit further south and I was pleasantly surprised to find many trees in bloom. One tip I have for anyone who wants to go to this festival is to get there early. It starts at 11:00am and we got there about noon. By that time the only free parking was in the furthest lot about 3/4 miles away and although we were able to catch the free shuttle bus (a yellow school bus) to the festival, the line was so long waiting for the bus on the way back, we had to walk. If you live nearby, the smart thing to do ride your bicycle to the park like these people did.
Horticultural Center
One of the permanent buildings at Fairmont Park is the Horticulture Center which is a ceries of greenhouses. Some of the festival events were being held inside. Here Japanese dancing is being taught to children.
Here is a man demonstrating flower arranging.
This part of the Horticulture Center had some very pretty landscaping.
In another part of the Horticulture Center, they were growing many flowers in small flowerpots. Since there were no prices on any of them, I am assuming they were growing flowers to put in Fairmont Park later in the summer.
Outside the Horticulture Center they had set up many booths selling food and various products such as Japanese material, kimonos and parasols. I'm glad my family and I brought our own lunch because the lines in front of the food stands was very long.
The reflecting pool near the booths.
Outside Events There were also events going on at outdoor stages. We watched briefly the Karate demonstration.
They also had various music groups throughout the day.
I thought that this group of drums waiting for one of the performances was an interesting shot. 
Japanese House Another permanent building at Fairmont Park is Japanese House. Although you can take a tour of the house, the line was so long we didn't really feel like it. The only line I'd stand on that long is the line to the bathroom
Although we didn't see the inside of Japanese House, we were able to see the beautiful landscaping around it through the fence.
People in Costume There were quite a few people at the festival walking around in costumes. Of course, there were a lot of people wearing komonos but there were other types of costumes also. My son thinks that they might have been anime costumes. I know we saw an anime booth.
Because the line to the free shuttle bus was so long, we decided to walk back to the car. Because of this, we got to see a view of the Philadelphia skyline.
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Copyright © 2007-2011-2009 Susan Savad
