Your guide to the fun stuff going on around the region this weekend, including a rockstar photographer, comedian Tim Meadows, the best of the National Cherry Blossom Festival (the parade, street culture festival, and kite festival), beer and art scavenger hunts, Nerd Nite, tons of movies, and so much more. more ›

Morning Washington. Looks like we'll slowly thaw out of this unseasonably cold and rainy weather we've been having, but not without some showers today. If you woke up early enough, you caught a glimpse of the sun, but I'm afraid it won't be out much longer today. Tomorrow though, promises ideal cherry blossom viewing weather: partially sunny, reaching 60. more ›

D.C.'s famed cherry blossoms peaked even earlier than expected on Wednesday, even after the dates for peak bloom were moved up twice already this year. The National Park Service now says peak bloom technically already came and went -- it lasted all of one day, which turned out to be March 31. more ›

Peak blooming dates for Washington's famed cherry blossoms have been revised a second time. The National Park Service now says there will be just two days of peak bloom: April 1-2. The estimated dates had originally spanned from April 3-8, and were later moved up to April 1-4. more ›

When the National Cherry Blossom Festival starts Saturday, the tourists who come to see the trees will leave behind an estimated $126 million in the D.C. metro region over the course of the event, according to a George Mason University study released Thursday. more ›

The National Park Service has revised its predicted peak blooming period for Washington's famous cherry blossoms, to April 1-4 from April 3-8. The change was made, as the Post explains, after this weekend's gorgeous warm weather sped up the blooming process. The overall blooming period was also revised just a bit, to March 28-April 9, from March 31-April 11. more ›

The D.C. Circulator will start back up running its loop around the National Mall for the season on March 27, the Examiner reports. more ›

The National Park Service's chief cherry blossom prognosticator, horticulturalist Rob DeFeo, has at last delivered the goods: he announced this morning that the estimated peak bloom period for Washington's famous cherry trees will run from April 3-8, while the overall bloom period will last from March 31 to April 11. more ›

WTOP reports that a number of cherry trees around the Tidal Basin were damaged by heavy snowfall this month.

"A number of branches have been split, and there have been a couple of trees that have had the canopies taken off," National Park Service spokesman Bill Line tells WTOP after he toured the area. more ›

On the peak Saturday of the Cherry Blossom Festival -- one of the historically busier days on the calendar for our venerable Metro -- it's obviously going to be quite crowded on trains and in platforms. But as the twilight of this morning's activities arrives, and the city prepares for this evening's sports-related subway throngs by engaging in a mass pillow fight, it's encouraging that the Metro website is currently reporting no official disruptions in rail service. With a tip of the cap to reader InMasonicShadows, Unsuck DC Metro put together a twittercap of this morning's biggest problem: incredibly long lines to enter suburban Metro stations. All things considered, if that's the biggest issue with Metro today, then there's not too much to complain about. (Now let's collectively find some wood, and get knockin'.) more ›

And it's a good photo! But whassa matter with Sanjay Suchak that he can't upload some photos of some cherry blossoms like everybody else?
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This weekend sure is a busy one. What with the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade is on Saturday morning, the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run and 5K Run-Walk on Sunday morning, plus Wizards, DC United and Nationals games all happening on Saturday night, off-peak hours this weekend on Metro are likely to resemble rush hour. In order to keep up, Metro has no weekend track work scheduled, and they've instituted a number of service changes. more ›

Locavore's Delight more ›

The National Cherry Blossom Festival formally kicks off tomorrow, with all that the first weekend of the celebration entails. more ›

This morning the National Park Service announced it has revised the peak bloom dates for D.C.'s famed cherry blossoms, to April 1-4. It's a shorter period than previously predicted, as well as being earlier. They've also added on an overall "Blooming Period," from March 28-April 11, which conveniently overlaps nearly perfectly with the dates of the National Cherry Blossom Festival (March 28-April 12). more ›

It's undeniably still winter outside, but today we're provided with a tangible reminder that spring is so close we can almost taste it. The National Cherry Blossom Festival had their annual press conference this morning at the Newseum, where they announced the peak bloom dates for D.C.'s famous pink blossoms: April 3 through 9. That's the time period when National Park Service horticulturists believe the cherry blossoms will be at their fullest and most beautiful. more ›

The Cherry Blossom parade will modify many downtown Metrobus routes this weekend. The parade starts this Saturday at 10 a.m. and marches on Constitution Avenue between 7th and 17th streets, and will force the 5A, 13, 32, 34, 35, 36, 52, 54, 66, 70, 80, P6, S2, S4 and V8 to alter their routes until about 1 p.m. If you plan on taking any of these buses tomorrow, you should expect delays. more ›

If you’ve been down to the Tidal Basin to see the Cherry Blossoms, then you’ve probably already revisited the Jefferson Memorial. more ›

We have to assume the folks behind the National Cherry Blossom Festival know what they're getting into with this one. They're asking for your very best photographs from this year's Tidal Basin blossom display for their annual photo contest, and judging by the approximately 600 billion just in the DCist Flickr pool, they better have a lot of server space ready. more ›

No doubt many of you trekked down to the Tidal Basin this weekend to check out the cherry blossoms during their peak bloom (which is predicted to last until Thursday). As many rightly feel, this area is the height of "D.C. scenic," with the gorgeous trees lining the waterside and the Jefferson and Washington Monuments in view. more ›

So, let's see if we have all the enormous events happening in the city this weekend down: the National Marathon on Saturday, Opening Day at Nationals Park on Sunday, the beginning of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, and the 42nd Annual Smithsonian Kite Festival. Did we forget anything? more ›

Both the Post and WTOP have stories this morning announcing the National Park Service's decision to close the tiny Tidal Basin parking lot during the National Cherry Blossom Festival this year. Talk about overdue ideas. Anyone who's been down to see the blossoms at peak hours over the last decade can tell you that the additional traffic caused by the yahoos who seem to think they'll be able to snag a spot in the lot, which has only 180 parking spaces, is a nuisance that should have been done away with long ago. more ›

The National Cherry Blossom Festival held a press conference this morning to announce the predicted peak blooming dates for Washington, D.C.'s famous flowers. The Post's Going Out Gurus report that Robert DeFeo, the chief horticulturist for the National Park Service, has determined peak dates will be between March 27 and April 3. more ›

Good Morning, Washington. It looks like we survived the full moon, a night of Georgetown-less championship basketball and visit by Yoko Ono. It was worth it to enjoy another day of idyllic weather before it all goes to hell. By Friday the region will be back in the 40's with cloudy skies. As the National Park Service pleads with visitors not to touch, climb or even taunt the Cherry Blossoms, let's hope the expensive... more ›

>> If "gorgeous weather" isn't enough of a reason to get you outside, this weekend's kick-off for the National Cherry Blossom Festival should get you to shake off that winter gloom. Head over to the National Building Museum tomorrow to kick-off the celebration with Family Day events from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and the opening ceremony from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Lots of hands-on art activities, like oragami and fruit carving, will keep... more ›

How's that Congress-is-back-in-session traffic treating you this morning, Washington? Seems like everyone and their step-cousin is on their way to the Hill this morning to witness what new Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised will be "the most ethical Congress ever." So we sure hope all you staffers cleaned out your bosses' freezers last night, because this morning will have been too late. In all seriousness, we're definitely looking forward to following the goings on during... more ›