There’s a quiet neighbourhood street on the east side of Vancouver that explodes with two things every spring~the most extraordinary canopy of cherry blossoms, and literally hundreds of people who flock to this street to photograph the blooms-and themselves.
As CTV News reported in 2017, some whacky behaviour has also begun to bloom. One neighbour noted that people tried to climb the trees and shake branches to make the petals drop; some block traffic to get the perfect selfie. City of Vancouver bylaw officers do their part by ticketing illegally parked vehicles and trying to “keep things calm”.
You can see why some residents would choose to rope off the front of their lawns to stop ladders, vehicles, and crowds on their front lawn. In one photo, two east side felines become the centre of the attention.
All in a day on one of Vancouver’s most cherry tree’d streets.
If you really like cherry trees, you might want to take in the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival and all its activities until April 29, sponsored by the Vancouver Parks Board. There are also tree talks and walks, and one might just take you to the street featured on instagram with “Cherry Blossom Madness”.
Given how popular cherry blossom viewing is becoming, we’re probably not that far off having full on Hanami festivals in Vancouver. The only problem is that our best sakura viewing opportunities are along roads and not in big parks where one can set up a blanket and enjoy a drink with friends under a tree like they do in Japan (also liquor license rules here make this technically illegal…).
My friends and I do an annual cherry blossom bike ride to view these street side blooming trees, ending at an East Van brewery.
They’ve already started doing that at Queen Elizabeth Park 🙂 (had an event for it last weekend: http://www.vancourier.com/entertainment/vancouver-cherry-blossom-festival-hosts-big-picnic-1.23263595 )
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