Celebrate spring at 10th annual Buffalo Cherry Blossom Festival

The Buffalo Cherry Blossom Festival is celebrating its 10th year as a premier Western New York springtime celebration on April 29-30. The Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, The Buffalo History Museum, Friends of the Japanese Garden, and Music is Art will once again partner to host a celebration of the spring season and cherry blossoms in the Japanese Garden in Delaware Park.

A press release stated, “The festival features exhibits and events that celebrate the longstanding ties between Buffalo and its sister city, Kanazawa, Japan, which has helped maintain the city’s Japanese Garden through the decades. Strolling through the garden along the lake to see the blossoms has become a rite of spring in Buffalo. Dozens of cherry blossom trees bloom directly behind The Buffalo History Museum in the Japanese Garden, creating one of the most iconic scenic vistas in Western New York, and the perfect backdrop for a spring festival. The festival has grown exponentially since first debuting in 2014, now attracting thousands of visitors each year and solidifying Buffalo’s reputation as a top city to see cherry blossoms.

“For the past 10 years, the Buffalo Cherry Blossom Festival has highlighted the blossoming Japanese cherry trees that are a harbinger of spring. Visitors stroll through the Japanese Garden in Delaware Park, enjoying music and seeing friends, all with the backdrop of the pink and white blossoms that symbolize the ephemeral nature of life,” said Paula Hinz of the Friends of the Japanese Garden.

“The importance of the Buffalo Cherry Blossom Festival in the cultural landscape of the city feels more significant than ever this year,” said Stephanie Crockatt, executive director of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy. “After a particularly long and challenging winter for Buffalo, the blooming of the cherry blossoms feels particularly poignant; they represent a time of renewal and optimism. It has been a true wonder to witness the festival’s evolution these past 10 years, as it has solidified its place as a key date in the Buffalo calendar.”

“Each spring, we eagerly await the arrival of the cherry blossoms as a sure sign of warmer, brighter days ahead in our city,” said Melissa Brown, executive director of The Buffalo History Museum. “It’s been our honor to partner with the Friends of the Japanese Garden and the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy over the last decade to bring Buffalo this celebration of the season.”

This year’s events are as follows:

•Festival fundraiser, 6-8 p.m. Thursday, April 27, The Buffalo History Museum | One Museum Court, Buffalo. Ticket price: $25 per individual (advanced sale April 24) | $30 at the door): This year’s fundraiser for the Japanese Garden is at The Buffalo History Museum and includes an online silent auction, local bites, wine pull, and live music by Alex Cousins and Bryan Dubay. This event is hosted by the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Friends of the Japanese Garden, Music is Art, and The Buffalo History Museum. For tickets and more information, visit www.buffalocherryblossomfestival.org.

•Festival weekend, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 29, and Sunday, April 30, Japanese Garden in Delaware Park and The Buffalo History Museum: Celebrate inside The Buffalo History Museum and outside in the Japanese Garden with cultural displays and activities. Learn about bonsai, origami, folk dolls, and Kanazawa, Buffalo’s sister city in Japan, at activity tables inside the Buffalo History Museum. Enjoy Music is Art’s three stages of live music in the Japanese Garden. Stroll in the garden, admire the blossoms and take a ride on the pink boats on Mirror Lake. Grab a bite to eat from a variety of food trucks, and enjoy a pop-up tea ceremony on the museum’s upper portico.

For a full schedule, visit: https://www.buffalocherryblossomfestival.org/.

More About the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy

The Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy is the first nonprofit organization in the nation to manage and operate an entire urban park system consisting of more than 850 acres of beautifully designed historic parks, parkways and circles. The conservancy is an independent not-for-profit, community organization whose mission is to promote, preserve, restore, enhance and maintain the Frederick Law Olmsted-designed parks and parkways in the Greater Buffalo area for current and future generations. More than 2.5 million visits occur in Buffalo’s Olmsted Park system annually for recreation, relaxation and rejuvenation. Designed by America’s first landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted more than 150 years ago, it’s this nation’s first urban park system. Since the 2004 groundbreaking public-private partnership between the conservancy, City of Buffalo and Erie County, the conservancy has held responsibility for the management and care of these nationally registered historic green spaces and continues today to assist the city in bringing recognition to its collective renaissance. Most recently, the American Planning Association recognized Delaware Park as one of the 2014 Great Places in America, The Guardian publication named Buffalo’s Olmsted park system as one of the best park systems in the world, and in 2018 the Conservancy set a Guinness World Record in historic Bidwell Parkway. www.bfloparks.org.

The Buffalo Olmsted Park System includes: 

•Six parks: Cazenovia Park in South Buffalo, Delaware Park in Delaware/Parkside District, Front Park at the Peace Bridge, Martin Luther King, Jr. Park at Fillmore Avenue, Riverside Park at Niagara and Tonawanda Street and South Park at McKinley Parkway

•Seven parkways: Bidwell, Chapin, Lincoln, McKinley, Porter, Red Jacket and Richmond

•Eight landscaped traffic circles: Agassiz, Colonial, Ferry, Gates, McClellan, McKinley, Soldiers and Symphony

The Buffalo History Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Learn more at www.buffalohistory.org.