Each spring, Abe Lincoln looks out onto a sea of pink and white as the cherry blossoms bloom. This isn’t Washington, D.C.’s famed festival, but one a lot closer to home in Delaware Park.
For the sixth year, the Buffalo History Museum’s portico hosts the city’s Cherry Blossom Festival, turning the Japanese Garden into snow globe of pale petals.
The festival will highlight the Japanese Garden, featuring more than 80 cherry trees and about seven different varieties, with even more being planted each year.
For the festival, there will be live music and painters in the garden and boat rides on Mirror Lake.
On Sunday at 4:30 p.m., there will be an authentic tea ceremony, but the whole weekend will be filled with opportunities to learn about Japanese culture and the significance of the garden here in Buffalo.
"The Japanese Garden is actually a strolling garden,” explained Paula Hinz, the festival’s chairperson. “It dates back to the idea of futile lords not being able to travel in Japan and so futile lords had to make a garden that would allow them to travel in their own estate. So a strolling garden represents that idea where you'd want to walk through the garden and see different views along your stroll.”
These free events at the History Museum and garden will all begin at 11 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday.