Most years, Metrorail holds off on impeding tourists with track work the weekend of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. But with the early bloom, crowds who arrive in time will have to endure the delays. more ›

The centennial of the planting of Japanese cherry trees on the Tidal Basin will be marked with a celebration of the trees' origin, as well as remembrances of the earthquake and tsunami last year that ravaged Japan. more ›

The National Park Service announced today that the District's famed cherry blossoms will reach peak bloom between March 24-31, corresponding almost perfectly with the centennial edition of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. more ›

In case you hadn't already noticed that Washington, D.C. is currently chock-a-block with tourists, WMATA shares that Thursday actually marked its second highest weekday ridership ever. The Metrorail system saw a whopping 877,890 trips on Thursday, thanks to a combination of the peak of the National Cherry Blossom Festival and a sold-out Washington Capitals game. The figure is second only to Jan. 20, 2009, the day of President Obama's inauguration. 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 ›

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 ›

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 ›

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 ›

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 ›

FRIDAY: >> By far one of the most fun bar nights in town is always where ever the Guerrilla Queer Bar Takeover kids end up -- the mingling of gays and straights in D.C. ever a combination as terriffic as chili and cheese. So you can bet we'll be swinging by to celebrate the Third Anniversary of the Guerrilla Queer Bar Takeover at Black Cat tonight. The takeover starts in the Red Room at 9... 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 ›

Good morning, D.C. Thanks to all of you who came out to the Voting Rights Happy Hour last night. We had a great time meeting everyone and chatting about the future of full voting rights for D.C. Our friends and co-hosts at DC Vote were thrilled to be able to sign up so many new interested members and volunteers for their upcoming Voting Rights March on April 16, so thanks to them for coming out... more ›

Via the Post, we see that the National Park Service has issued its official guess at when the cherry blossoms will reach their peak. The verdict: March 27 - April 1, a range of dates that's conveniently in the middle of this year's National Cherry Blossom Festival. This year's festival will include events ranging from soccer tournaments to kite flying to two different kimono exhibitions. You can find a list of all the events here.... more ›

It may not look or feel like it, but spring really is in the air. Sure the calender's moved past winter, but a more tell-tale sign is that cherry blossom fever has hit the city. more ›

FRIDAY: >> The circus has come to town! Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will be having an evening show tonight, 7:30 p.m. at the MCI Center. If you get there 90 minutes early, you can enjoy free entertainment, and during the pre-show Three Ring Adventure, kids can meet performers and pose for photos with the crazy clowns. Tickets can be purchased here. SATURDAY: >> If you're feeling energetic come Saturday AM, why not... more ›

Good morning Washington. For those on Capitol Hill and others, we hope you've been enjoying the Congressional recess this week. To everyone else, enjoy your Good Friday if you have it off. For the weather today, check Capital Weather. Rain will be moving in around lunchtime with highs near 50. They're Coming!: Tourists, a million strong, will be coming into the city for the National Cherry Blossom Festival. And according to the Post, the first... more ›

Today will be partly cloudy with highs in the mid 50s. Hunger Strike at Georgetown: A hunger strike by group of 22 students at Georgetown has entered its sixth day. The students are members of the Georgetown Living Wage Campaign, which has been pressuring the university to increase the wages of its lowest paid employees for a year. David Swanson has posted a column and photos about the strike on his website and Indymedia, and... more ›