Last year, both Cherry Blossom weekends saw rainfall, and the festival saw a $100,000 shortfall. This year, the weather was also inconsistent, but festival organizers are still calling the event a success. While the number of expected visitors, 1 million, was not higher than in previous years, it is still notable in light of the downturn in the economy. The economy is being cited as a cause behind the drastic drop in restaurants participating in the festival’s seventh annual Cherry Picks promo, where chefs add cherry-flavored and blossom-inspired creations to their menus. Nonetheless, the festival remains one of the most important tourist attractions for Washington DC each year.
It tends to coincide with other tourism events, such as the recently developed Passport DC, a program that aims to highlight Washington’s unique status as home to more embassies than any other city in the world. Through May 9, 2009, Cultural Tourism DC, the organizers of the program, will coordinate a large-scale, open house event at more than 30 embassies – for more information visit www.culturaltourismdc.org.
Another notable new attraction in DC is a wax figure of Michelle Obama that was unveiled on April 7th at Madame Tussauds wax museum. According to the Museum’s press release, studio artists at Merlin Studios in London, who started working on Mrs. Obama’s figure in late December, studied hundreds of photos and watched hours of video footage to create the figure. The artists chose to dress Mrs. Obama in a red, sleeveless custom-designed dress modeled on the purple dress she wore the night of the Democratic presidential nomination. Mrs. Obama is the third First Lady to be immortalized in wax by Madame Tussauds Washington D.C., joining Jacqueline Kennedy and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
- Monika Wysocki
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