50th Anniversary of the Yoshino cherry tree planting, thousands flocked into Wooster Park for the Party! Huge Hanami Happiness!

After a year of planning and tinkering, the 50th Annual Cherry Blossom Celebration came off without a hitch and was an enormous success.

As WTNH Sarah Cody kicked off the festival, the park quickly started filling in. Families were staking out sections, friends gathering and best of all seeing some of the folks who grew up in the neighborhood.

The St. Luke's Steel band, kicked off the festivities. As they entertained, flower folks were checking out the food trucks on Academy Street. Like last year, after a two year pandemic hiatus, the organizers wanted to increase the enjoyment of the park, the trees and the music.

This meant forgoing vendors much to the chagrin of many. I too sold photos and it was great fun.

However, without all the setup the day runs so much smoother for the organizers. And, the stage was set in front of St Michael's. So everyone could spread out all over the park to see and hear all the festivities.

Since I didn't have a table, I was able to bring my camera and take a few photos of flower folks who came. I normally don't take pictures of people.... strictly a blossoms and birds person.

As a matter of fact, my twitter friend Chris Graham and I came up with a hashtag that we could all use when posting bird/nature photos on social media.

It's #CTNatureFans check it out and use it often!

The Blossom gods were with us this whole 50th year.

The week before the event, our weather took a summer turn. The blossoms quickly moved to peak, as I had predicted, perfect 12 years in a row!

The Celebration was on the 16th. So the blossoms were going to be nice for the festival! But!

The weather took a turn, rain was in the picture. Thankfully, it didn't rain but started foggy and chilly.

One of the band members of Airborne said he thought that they would be playing to nobody. Show up they did.

Any dignitaries? Of course! Besides Justin Elicker our Mayor there were State Senate leader Martin Looney, Alder Cupo, State Rep Roland Lemar and Wooster Square's own Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro!! Rosa presented the Wooster Square Historic Association with an amendment on it's significance to New Haven and the United States! Thanks Rosa!

So when was peak you might ask? Good question!

I use a less than scientific standing on Greene Streete looking down Academy Street inside the park and take a photo. Then I simply look closely until peak starts to fade and green takes over.

So not only did I ascertain peak this year, I updated my antiquated chart of Pop-Peak-Over.

I used the stages of the cherry blossoms and painstakingly looked at photos and notes from the last 15 years.

So before I show you pictures from the day of the event, here's the Wooster Square Blossom Watch!