Prepping for Saturday's Festival

As the Southwest Waterfront Fireworks Festival fast approaches, preparations are underway along the waterfront to entertain the thousands of people that are expected on Saturday.  As mentioned previously, the festival will last from 1pm to 8:30pm with a full schedule of events, followed by the fireworks show. Over at the Gangplank Marina, E dock is being converted to a commercial dock so cruise boats like DC Harbor Cruises can take tourists along the Potomac River (above photo). 

Over at 7th Street Landing, DC Harbor Cruises has taken over District Doghouse's old kiosk, which won't be coming back this season.  Eventually, the cruise operator will move to another kiosk under construction on the other side of 7th Street Landing to serve the E dock. The new food provider that will be moving to District Doghouse's kiosk will be the BBQ operation that is currently on the grounds of St. Augustine's. Last week I tweeted about the mural of The Wharf being installed in front of the Hoffman-Madison Waterfront team's construction trailer next to 7th Street Landing.  In addition, this year's Cherry Blast will take place at the former Zanzibar on the Waterfront building from 8pm-12am. According to the Going Out Gurus:

This year, the party is down on the Southwest waterfront - at the old Zanzibar - where the entertainment includes performance art, burlesque and graffiti, plus music from quirky, hook-filled Brooklyn indie band Bear Hands, the Beach Boys-influenced synth-pop group ANR and a number of DJs. Check out murals while snacking at food trucks. And Zanzibar’s deck offers a perfect spot to watch the official Cherry Blossom Festival fireworks. The $10 admission includes one free drink, but no tickets will be sold at the door, so get yours in advance.

Volunteers from the Southwest Library Playground Project (SWLPP) will be set up at the Gangplank Marina park pavilion to do face painting and sell water, which has been donated by Deer Park.  The face painting will be free, but donations will be accepted to go towards the construction of a new playground next to the Southwest Library. Half of the proceeds from water sales at several stations throughout the festival will go towards relief efforts in Japan and the other half will go towards the SWLPP.

As Barbara Ehrlich, one of the organizers of the festival from the Washington Waterfront Association, told me this afternoon, this year's Southwest Waterfront Fireworks Festival will be the biggest event staged by the group (in collaboration with the Hoffman-Madison Waterfront team) and will serve as a dry run for next year. That is when the National Cherry Blossom Festival will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the gifting of the cherry trees along the Tidal Basin from the people of Japan to DC. 

SW Waterfront Fireworks Festival Schedule

The following is the schedule of events for the Southwest Waterfront Fireworks Festival on Saturday, April 2nd, co-produced by the Washington Waterfront Association and the Hoffman-Madison Waterfront team as an official event of the 2011 National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Gangplank Marina Stage

1:00pm: US Navy Band and Ceremonial Color Guard

3:00pm: The "Old Guard" Fife and Drum Corps

6:00pm: US Army Band "Pershing's Own" Downrange

7th Street Landing Stage

1:00pm: Collector's Edition with Kristine Key

3:00pm: The Clarence Turner Blues Band

4:30pm: The Jacques "Saxman" Johnson Band

9th Street Plaza Stage

1:00pm: The VIP's

3:00pm: Nen Daiko Japanese Taiko Drummers

4:30pm: High Jinx

Special Events throughout the Southwest Waterfront

• Childrens’ Activities and Waterfront Demonstrations
• Community Displays and Information
• Costumed Characters and Strolling Musical Entertainment
• Face Painting and Balloon Artists
• Food and Beverage Vendors
• Festival Merchandise
• National Cherry Blossom Goodwill Ambassadors

The National Cherry Blossom Festival is Washington, DC’s and the Nation’s greatest springtime celebration. The 2011 Festival is March 26 through April 10 and features signature events, daily cultural performance, art exhibits, sport competitions and more. The National Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates the 99th anniversary of the gift of the cherry blossom trees and the enduring friendship between the citizens of the United States and Japan. For schedules and information call the Festival hotline at 877-44-BLOOM or visit http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/.

Scenes from Southwest...National Cherry Blossom Festival

Clockwise (from upper left): (1) The cherry blossoms are in all their glory along the Tidal Basin. (2) The U.S. Navy Band performs at the Prelude to the Fireworks festival on the Southwest Waterfront. (3) The John Glenn fire boat is back in service after sustaining damage in an accident in January 2009 and shoots water to help celebrate the Prelude to the Fireworks festival. (4) A crowd gathers below Banneker Overlook to wait for the Festival Fireworks Show.

Call Box Unveiling Today

Here's a reminder that today is the unveiling ceremony of two of the SW Call Boxes at 2:30 pm. The ceremony will take place at the lobby of the Disabled American Veterans building at the corner of 7th Street & Maine Avenue. There are a total of 14 call boxes that will be decorated with cherry blossom art. Below is one of the call boxes, located at the corner of 6th & G Street.

Week in Review

Here's a recap of the week's events...

- Cherry Blossom Festival Begins. On a rainy Saturday, the National Cherry Blossom Festival began with several activities around the city, and earlier this week, the blossoms began their peak blooming period. The festival will continue through Sunday, April 12th, with local events, including the dedication of the SW Call Boxes and the Fireworks Show, both of which will occur on April 11th. (The above photo is one of the cherry blossom-themed call boxes along M Street, before the artwork has been installed)

- SEU President Resigns. While I was on vacation, a letter was in my inbox from the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Southeastern University, stating that SEU President Dr. Charlene Drew Jarvis was resigning from her post as of March 31, 2009. In her place, Dr. Elaine Ryan was appointed interim President, previously serving as Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer. SEU is facing accreditation problems and is looking to merge with the GS Graduate School. See my post from last month for more background on the merger talks. On my flight to California, I ended up sitting next to one of the former deans at Southeastern and we started chatting about SEU's current situation and development trends in Southwest. It's a small world indeed!

- Frank Gehry chosen to design Eisenhower Memorial...No Joke! The Washington Business Journal reported on Wednesday that the Eisenhower Memorial Commission has chosen famed LA-based architect Frank Gehry to design a memorial dedicated to President Eisenhower, located across from the Air & Space Museum and the Department of Education headquarters at 4th Street & Independence Avenue. This is Gehry's second chance to design a structure in DC - the first time he was tapped to design an addition to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, but the gallery had financing issues, so it was never built. See my post from January about this topic.

Southwest...The Cherry Blossom Capital of Washington, DC

The National Cherry Blossom Festival begins one month from today and at this week's SWNA meeting, Southwest was designated the "Cherry Blossom Capital of Washington, DC." About 90% of the cherry blossoms in DC are located in Southwest, including the Tidal Basin and East Potomac Park, according to Lida Churchville, who has been working on the SW Call Box project for the past two years. Members from the Earth Conservation Corps were responsible for painting the call boxes, and as Southwest...TLQTC mentioned last week, they have been painted blue and pink, with the blue representing our neighborhood's proximity to water and the pink representing the color of the cherry blossoms that bloom each spring. The Call Box committee has also partnered with the National Cherry Blossom Festival to provide cherry blossom-inspired artwork on 14 out of the 32 call boxes in SW. Those designs will be unveiled during the cherry blossom festival on April 11. Check out the NCBF website for a list of other events during the two-week long festival. Churchville gave us a bit of a history lesson about the cherry trees as well at the SWNA meeting. The 100th anniversary of the gifting of the cherry trees by the people of Japan will be in 2012, but it turns out that the city of Washington was supposed to receive the trees back in 1909. However, once the trees reached Washington state from their trans-Pacific voyage, it was determined that the trees were infested and had to be burned, so Washington, DC didn't receive its cherry trees until the year 1912. So, SWNA has three years to plan for the big 100th anniversary celebration!

SW Call Box Update at Next SWNA Meeting

From March's The Southwester, there will be a SWNA meeting this coming Monday at 7:30pm at St. Augustine's, located at 6th Street & Maine Avenue. Special guest will be D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray. Agenda items include an update on the SW Call Box project and announcements about upcoming SWNA elections. If you've noticed, the call boxes around Southwest are painted blue and pink, with the blue representing our proximity to the river & channel, while the pink symbolizes the cherry blossoms that bloom each spring around the Tidal Basin and East Potomac Park. The artwork that has yet to be installed in the call boxes will depict scenes related to cherry blossoms. However, according to an article in Black College View, one of the 32 call boxes will be dedicated to Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court justice and former SW resident.

(The above photo is of a painted call box located on M Street across from the View at Waterfront).