The 85-year-old National Cherry Festival in Traverse City, for example, attracts 500, 000 visitors every July.

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The cherry festival provides an opportunity for the entire city to present its activities and achievements.

UNESCO: Intangible Cultural Heritage

As with most festivals in South Korea, the Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival can be crowded.

CNN: Forget the North, it's cherry blossom season

For visitors, the Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival makes a memorable day trip.

CNN: Forget the North, it's cherry blossom season

Written and directed by Michael Sturminger, the lighthearted work is being briefly presented by the Cherry Orchard Festival at New York City Center.

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In the US, the National Cherry Blossom Festival kicked off last week in Washington DC with a fundraising walk and vigil for the victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

BBC: Cherry blossom festivals amid tragedy

The Hitachi Furyumono is a parade held during the cherry blossom festival each April in Hitachi City on the Pacific coast in the middle of Japan, and once every seven years in May during the Great Festival at the local Kamine Shrine.

UNESCO: Culture

For the annual cherry blossom festival, one community presents its float each year, but for the Great Festival at Kamine Shrine, the four communities compete to see whose puppeteers are the most skilled and which can provide the best hospitality to the local deity.

UNESCO: Intangible Cultural Heritage

The festival's president, Diana Mayhew, told news outlets last week that the cherry blossom symbolizes rebirth and renewal.

BBC: Cherry blossom festivals amid tragedy