While you won't be able congregate under a popular canopy of powder-pink cherry blossoms anytime soon, you can enjoy their spring beauty from the comfort of your home.
The City of Vancouver cancelled a number of its annual Cherry Blossom Festival events, such as the popular Sakura Days and The Big Picnic, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is featuring virtual walks for those who were hoping to discover the magic of the blossoms up close.
The online offering starts with the "Haiku Walk from Joy Kogawa House," which is available to join now. The festival notes that Winnipeg poet Sally Ito would have led this walk as part of her author residency at Historic Joy Kogawa House. Now, she's written haiku to accompany the various locales on the self-guided vitual walk of the Marpole neighbourhood that begins and ends at the heritage house.
The event page notes that, "As it is a virtual walk, you needn’t worry about what is in bloom when, but if you will be checking it out on foot, the map comments indicate roughly when the trees would be in bloom."
The next walk is in Strathcona and takes viewers through some of last year's 'accolade' trees on Pender between Princess and Campbell and at Strathcona Liner Park.
Following this virtual tour, viewers journey through Downtown and the West End. The voyage includes popular displays such as the ‘Akebono’ trees at Burrard Station, a ‘Beni-shidare’ at Alexandra Park, and the ‘Somei-yoshino’ on Pendrell. The event suggests the neighbourhood map for locating these trees.
Nina Shoroplova would have led the walk in Stanley Park. She is the author of an upcoming book entitled Legacy of trees – Purposeful Wandering in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. Here are some of her photos and a report on one of her walks.
The festival also includes photos of popular spots at UBC and in Queen Elizabeth Park.
Enjoy 26 beautiful cherry blossom photos from Lower Mainland locals that wil make your heart smile.
