Portland's First Annual Cherry Blossom Festival held special meaning as a celebration of blossoms, the season of spring and friendship between the United States and Japan. Portland's waterfront cherry trees were a gift to the City from the Japanese Grain Importers Association in 1989. This year, the city's first Sakura Sunday - Cherry Blossom Festival - and its gifts of hope and prayers were dedicated to victims of Japan's recent earthquakes and tsunamis.
Japan has celebrated cherry blossom season for centuries with picnics, music and dance under the trees. Portland's festival also included a riverfront gathering where, led by a Japanese priest, well-wishers sent prayers to Japan and flowers into the Willamette River which leads to the Pacific Ocean via the mighty Columbia.
Participants of all ages celebrated together under the trees.
