DAR's Gift to the Nation in Full Bloom: DAR Named Host Sponsor of National Cherry Blossom Festival

Ginnie Sebastian Storage, President General

February 3, 2026

As we were planning for the Semiquincentennial, our National Society was inspired to think of commemoration efforts on a national level in addition to meaningful local celebrations occurring across the country. Thanks to the foresight of our DAR Founders in securing the location of our beautiful National Headquarters in Washington, DC, we are fortunate to be neighbors to “America’s front yard,” the National Mall. So much history has already occurred on the Mall, and this year it will give millions of Americans a front row seat to the celebrations of our country’s 250^th anniversary!

Our National Society has long been active in supporting preservation efforts on the National Mall for visitors from all over the world to experience. In 2022, the DAR supported the restoration of the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial in Constitution Gardens led by the Trust for the National Mall. Thus, when the time arose to identify a Gift to the Nation in honor of the 250^th Anniversary, a special historic preservation project presented itself just steps away from our House Beautiful.

As we announced last year, DAR is making a transformative $2 million Gift to the Nation as the foundational Legacy Leader of the Trust for the National Mall’s Cherry Tree Endowment. The DAR gift will support the National Park Service’s work to ensure the iconic cherry blossoms endure and bloom for generations to come. The DAR’s collaboration with the Trust will include supporting legacy restoration projects, civic learning opportunities, and volunteer programming throughout the nation's 250^th anniversary and beyond! In celebrating our country’s milestone through this Gift to the Nation, DAR is showing its commitment to preserving the history of the National Mall as a symbol of our nation’s ideals and civic purpose as well as conserving the natural beauty of the cherry blossoms for future generations.

Thanks to your support of the President General’s Project, Our Legacy in Bloom, which inspires Daughters to bring the legacy of our Founders into the present with energy and purpose, the National Society is able to give this significant Gift to the Nation in honor of America’s 250^th anniversary. In doing so, we are helping to preserve the history and perpetuate the vision of journalist Eliza Scidmore, First Lady Helen Taft, and other trailblazing women who transformed the nation’s capital with their efforts in the early 1900s to bring flowering cherry trees to Washington, DC, and to subsequently protect them when nature and construction efforts threatened their future.

I am also excited to announce that in celebration of our transformative support of the Cherry Tree Endowment, our National Society will take center stage this spring as a Host Sponsor of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Our participation in the Festival will help ensure that every visitor who marvels at the blossoms recognizes DAR’s role in preserving this living piece of American history for generations to come.

The month-long National Cherry Blossom Festival takes place throughout the District of Columbia. DAR will be hosting the Opening Ceremony of the Festival in DAR Constitution Hall on March 21. This event will be the kick-off to the Festival and an artistic celebration of the 1912 gift of trees from Tokyo to Washington, DC, with affordable tickets going on sale in the upcoming weeks and a livestream option available on the Festival’s YouTube channel. More information about the National Cherry Blossom Festival Opening Ceremony can be found here.

On April 11, the Festival will culminate with the nationally televised and syndicated National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade^® filled with performances and celebrations travelling along 10 blocks of the iconic Constitution Avenue. DAR will be participating in the parade with a patriotic float to honor our commitment to celebrating our Nation’s 250^th anniversary and our Gift to the Nation for the Cherry Tree Endowment! We invite you to attend the parade in person or watch it on your local station.

Participating in the National Cherry Blossom Festival as a Host Sponsor celebrates our support of the Cherry Tree Endowment through the Trust for the National Mall. This exciting collaboration will truly showcase DAR’s Legacy in Bloom to the Nation during our country's 250th anniversary.

Learn more about the National Cherry Blossom Festival (including the famous Trust for the National Mall’s #BloomCam!) here.

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