National Cherry Blossom Festival License Plates
A Series of Special Event, Limited-Use Plates

From 1962 through 1974, special sequentially-numbered license plates were issued for use on official vehicles involved in the National Cherry Blossom Festival. In 1976 special plates were again made, but they are not numbered. No Cherry Blossom Festival plates have been made since then. Although no data is known that indicates how many of each of these plates were actually issued, numbers on surviving examples suggest that no more than a few hundred of each were produced.

All National Cherry Blossom Festival license plates were issued in pairs and measure 6" x 12". Those issued through 1970 are cardboard whereas the last four numbered plates, dated 1971 through 1974, are embossed aluminum.

Prior to the issuance of special plates, during the 1950s special Cherry Blossom Festival windshield decals were produced. These 4-1/2" x 7-3/4" decals are pink with black lettering. As noted on the 1959 decal shown, they were to be used on official cars in the "Parade of Princesses."

Washington, D.C.'s Famous Cherry Trees
and the National Cherry Blossom Festival

Every spring, the blooming of the thousands of cherry trees around the Tidal Basin in the District of Columbia attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to the area. More than 3,000 cherry trees were presented to the United States in 1912 by the Japanese government as a sign of friendship between the two nations. The formal donation ceremony occurred on March 27, 1912, when First Lady Helen Herron Taft, wife of Pres. William Howard Taft, and Viscountess Chinida, wife of the Japanese Ambassador to the United States, planted the first two trees on the northern side of the Tidal Basin. At the conclusion of the planting, Mrs. Taft presented a bouquet of American Beauty roses to the Viscountess.

As has been done for many special events in Washington, D.C. over the years, special "No Stopping or Standing" signs were produced for use during at least one past Cherry Blossom Festival: 1974. They were posted along roadways around the Tidal Basin in an effort to keep motorists from stopping to admire the cherry blossoms, thereby adding to traffic jams that occur in the area. The cardboard sign is 11.5" x 18" and has brass grommets for mounting on trees and telephone poles.

The two original Yoshino cherry trees are still standing today, and bronze plaques that commemorate the original plantings are at the base of each one. Over the years, more than 400 cherry trees have been propagated from the original 1912 trees to ensure that the genetic lineage of the originals is preserved.

As a point of reference to the tree's location, the Jefferson Memorial and Franklin Roosevelt Memorial are also located on the Tidal Basin. The Basin itself is across the street from the Washington Monument, which is across the street from the White House. Within an easy walk of the Tidal Basin are the Lincoln Memorial, World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, Holocaust Museum, and various Smithsonian Museums.

In 1934, the District of Columbia Commissioners (a three-person commission that at the time governed the District) sponsored a three-day Cherry Blossom celebration. The event was such a success that in 1935 the first “Cherry Blossom Festival” was jointly sponsored by a number of civic organizations. The festival has been held annually ever since.

During World War II the original cherry tree orchard in Japan from which the 3,000 trees destined for the United States were taken in 1912 had been destroyed or fallen into decline. Japan asked the United States for help in restoring the grove, which was situated along the Arakawa River near Tokyo. The National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior responded by sending budwood from the original 3,000 cherry trees back to Japan in an effort to restore the original orchard.

Also after World War II, the Cherry Blossom Festival had expanded to include the selection of Cherry Blossom Princesses from each state and U.S. territory. The week-long festival included a parade with cars for each of the Princesses and other VIPs. In 1994, the National Cherry Blossom Festival was further expanded to two weeks.

Apparently without a distinct registration certificate for Special Event plates in (at least) 1968, the DMV used a Special Use Tag form for this short-term issue. The actual size of this document, which shows that the number 39 set of 1968 Cherry Blossom Festival plates was displayed on a 1967 Chevrolet convertible, is 3-1/4" x 8-1/2 ".

	This page last updated on April 16, 2010
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