It's Cherry Blossom Time In New Haven

The Cherry Blossom Festival has been a part of Wooster Square for 38 years. This celebration of spring commemorates the planting of 72 Yoshino Japanese cherry blossom trees in 1973 by the New Haven Historic Commission in cooperation with the New Haven Parks Department.

The festival has grown from a modest event with a local band entertaining a handful of neighbors under lighted trees to a major New Haven-wide event, drawing over 700 visitors last year.

Longtime Wooster Square resident Marianne Mazan remembers how landscape architect Jim Skeirtt, a member of the commission’s board, suggested that the parks department plant a row of Japanese cherry blossom trees along the Academy Street side of the park. Today, tourists and residents enjoy the full glory of the blossoms and celebrate spring under their stunning floral canopy.

The cherry blossom trees sport bright pink flowers sprouting from delicate branches. They bloom in springtime during the month of April, so the festival’s date is always around the third Sunday in April. This year it will be on April 10, due to a late Easter.

Timing is everything when it comes time to viewing these colorful flowers. Like autumn leaves bursting into color at their peak time, cherry blossoms have a short lifespan. The flowers last only about a week, and less if the weather is windy or rainy. Even before the Wooster 72 were planted, cherry blossom trees were planted on both sides of Hughes Place, creating a magnificent sweeping 20-foot-high arch of pink flowers. That has earned the street a reputation as one of the most beautiful in New Haven.

This year the Historic Wooster Square Association will be planting two new cherry trees in a ceremony the day of the festival. Special guests include U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Mayor John DeStefano, state Sen. Martin Looney and Alderman Michael Smart, among others.

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