rungreyt OP t1_jdu7p72 wrote on March 27, 2023 at 5:57 AM

Reply to comment by [deleted] in What's the deal with cherry blossoms? by rungreyt

Besides the hype, I feel like no other city has created an identity around cherry blossoms like DC has. All our sports teams have cherry blossom jerseys. Our metro cards and trains have cherry blossom designs. You'd think cherry blossoms were native to D.C but they're literally found in almost every other American city. I really don't understand it. There's much more culture and truly interesting things unique to D.C that I would think people would find much more interesting.

skaarpien t1_jdu83xk wrote on March 27, 2023 at 6:03 AM

Tourism and marketing purposes

keyjan t1_jduwgg5 wrote on March 27, 2023 at 11:36 AM

> All our sports teams have cherry blossom jerseys. Our metro cards and trains have cherry blossom designs.

Right, they’re seasonal. The Caps team store was selling green jerseys for St Patrick's day. The farecards are limited editions (like the World Series and Stanley Cup ones). This town gets a lot of money from tourism; this is just one more thing.

Ash Wednesday happens all over the country, too, so how come New Orleans makes such a big deal of the day before?

rungreyt OP t1_jdve7uj wrote on March 27, 2023 at 2:09 PM

I don't think New Orlean sports teams have Ash Wednesday jerseys or an Ash Wednesday half marathon lol. But I see: tourism. I was just wondering if there was added significance coming to D.C to see the cherry blossoms rather than your local park, which likely has them too.

keyjan t1_jdw0ths wrote on March 27, 2023 at 4:40 PM

no, the day before is mardi gras.

MoreCleverUserName t1_jdurjcn wrote on March 27, 2023 at 10:39 AM

but this is what people always want to come see, so instead of trying to change their minds, the City and Metro and the sports teams — who are mostly owned by the same guy— are just leaning into it.
BTW the Festival itself is awesome— the parade, all the dance exhibitions, the art installations. It’s not just a bunch of people standing around looking at some trees. It just doesn’t always align to peak bloom because these things are planned so far in advance,

rungreyt OP t1_jdvdud0 wrote on March 27, 2023 at 2:07 PM

I'm seeing that it's all of the events that are also built around the cherry blossoms.