BP MARKOWITZ TO WELCOME RETURN OF CHERRY BLOSSOMS TO BROOKLYN

Brooklyn Botanic Garden to celebrate 25th annual Sakura Matsuri festival.

**PHOTO OP**
11:30 A.M.
SATURDAY, APRIL 29
BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN
1000 WASHINGTON AVENUE
AT MONTGOMERY STREET
PROSPECT HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN

On Saturday, April 29, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will celebrate the return of spring at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s 25th annual Sakura Matsuri cherry blossom festival. Borough President Markowitz will kick off the weekend-long celebration as the blooming heart of Brooklyn’s own enchanted garden will host more than 60 events and performances.

The wildly popular annual event, now in its 25th year, will be even more spectacular this year as Borough President Markowitz welcomes famed musical sensations Gaijin a Go-Go’s Japanese pop grooves, a kimono fashion show, and a tofu-making workshop, as well as performances and activities for Brooklyn’s youngest cherry blossom lovers. It will be a rite of spring wrong to miss.

Also attending will be Inuyama City Council Member Anthony Bianchi, a former Bensonhurst resident who is the first North American ever elected to Japanese public office. In what has become an annual tradition, Borough President Markowitz will recite a haiku in honor of Sakura Matsuri; “Pink white glorious/Kimono taiko tofu/Spring garden splendor.”