Kirsten Bauer
O.A.R. performs on stage at the Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival.
This past weekend, Blackburn Park in Brookhaven hosted the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. This free festival celebrates the rise of spring and the blooming of cherry blossom trees with music, art, food and fun.
Music headliners this year consisted of O.A.R. and Boyz II Men. Other artists, such as Gavin DeGraw and SWITCHFOOT had time on stage.
The opening artist on Saturday, Elijah Johnston, played for the first time at this year’s festival.
“We were asked to play the festival as a local act, which was a huge honor given the size of the festival.” Johnston said. An estimated 60,000 people were in attendance.
“[The Cherry Blossom Festival] is a great way to get national acts in front of crowds that aren’t always able to see them.” – Elijah Johnston, singer-songwriter from Athens, GA
The festival kicked off with a 5K as well as a car show, with classic cars on display alongside a showing of a new Volkswagen Electric Bus.
In addition to these events, the Brookhaven festival hosted over 100 vendors from a number of states. Many vendors sold their handmade crafts while others sold baked goods or services.
Angela Santoro, local artist at the Scribbler Experience, has been a vendor at this festival for six years.
“It’s a really big show and its a really big community that likes supporting artists,” Santoro said on her experience these past years. “The weather isn’t always great but I can count on people to show up.”
“Brookhaven really likes to support small [artists] and thats wonderful!” – Angela Santoro, art vendor at Scribbler Experience
The festival brought in local food trucks and businesses, including a crepe food truck, Lisa’s Creperie, that competed in ABC’s “Great Food Truck Race.” Other trucks sold barbecue, coffee and cultural foods. Brands such as Sprite, Vitamin Water and Celsius gave out samples of new products to festival attendees.
Grace Halterman, a senior at Kennesaw State University, had her first experience at the Cherry Blossom Festival this year.
“These festivals are key to community involvement and engagement, there’s so much for everyone of any age range and backgrounds to do and a diverse amount of activities and vendors,” Halterman said.