Chasing Vancouver Blossoms

12 Apr 2020

It’s Cherry Blossom Season 2020 in Vancouver. Peering out the window, you’ll still see families dressed in their best pinks, following their GPS guides to the best tree, and posing this way then that for selfies and tripods.

But, with physical distancing comes a new tactic: park as close as possible to the sakura, lean as far as you can out of the driver’s window – ideally until your face scrapes a branch – snap that selfie, then zoom half a block to the next best tree. Repeat.

Such is the blossom madness in Vancouver that artist Lele Chan maintains Cherry Blossom Madness – an Instagram account devoted to the crazed things we Vancouverites will do to get the perfect picture of our loved ones frolicking amidst the cherry blossoms. In 2020, many distance themselves appropriately from non-householders; some do not.

Over the years, in looking out of her living room window, Chan has captured strangers leaping, twirling, standing in cars, on cars, lying face down, head down, usually in the middle of the road. Some come in formal wear – wedding gowns, kimonos, faux fur boleros. Others prefer a costume – dinosaur, Sailor Moon, Alice in Wonder-tea party, string bikini. A few drag over props – rowing machines, skis, the lone red umbrella, crates of plastic flamingoes.

Cherry Blossom Madness

So that we know we are not alone in our cherry blossom madness, here are some painters who have been wooed by blossoms, cherry and otherwise, over the years.