Celebrating Washington, D.C.’s fresh springtime blooms, the National Cherry Blossom Festival’s Petal Porches competition promoted neighborhood connections and creativity by inviting DMV residents to adorn their homes with pink decorations.
The Cherry Blossom Festival attracted more than 1.5 million people last year to its mostly free programming. Petal Porches debuted in 2021 as an effort to continue the festival traditions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now in its third year, Petal Porches ran from March 20 to April 16. Almost 300 homes were registered on the official Petal Porches Map, which showed the address of each participating home for DMV locals to explore.
Mary Giovagnoli, a resident of Friendship Heights, participated in Petal Porches for the first time in 2022.
A hand-painted banner was the focal point of Giovagnoli’s display. Last year, she painted a nylon political advertisement that she rescued from the garbage.
“I, for a long time, have loved old D.C. postcards,” Giovagnoli said. “I decided to paint a banner that had one of the old postcard pictures of the cherry blossoms overlooking the Tidal Basin, with the Washington Monument looking on.”
To supplement her postcard-inspired banner, Giovagnoli added lanterns, stuffed animal rabbits and artificial cherry blossoms to her display, which she titled “Bloom Where You are Planted.”
Mary Giovagnoli’s display is centered around her hand-painted nylon banner that reads “Bloom Where You are Planted.”
Giovagnoli made cherry blossoms out of bright pink baked goods boxes, wrapped pink tissue paper around tree branches and reused string lights from Christmas to enhance her display.
“It really doesn’t have to be a great deal of investment to do fun stuff,” Giovagnoli said.
Kelly Chaves, a resident of Alexandria, was also resourceful in creating her Petal Porches display.
She created small decorations with tissue paper and purchased others from Amazon, a sponsor of the competition. Enthusiastic neighbors also offered decoration items, including lanterns that Chaves hung from the cherry tree in her yard.
Chaves was the only Petal Porches participant on her block this year, but her neighbors have offered help with the display and expressed interest in putting together one of their own next year.
“It’s been fun because everybody got excited about it,” she said.
Giovagnoli also participated in Petal Porches with her neighbors in mind.
“I was walking up my steps this morning, and someone was walking by and said, ‘Thank you so much for adding color to the neighborhood,’” Giovagnoli said. “That’s largely why we chose to participate.”
Giovagnoli’s yard is also home to an annual Halloween display and a free library box year round.
“Doing things that make your yard a more public space and a space where people feel welcome is, I think, a good way to keep building a sense of community,” she said. “There’s all these people who feel like they have a little investment in what we’re doing.”
While the joy of making neighbors smile is a primary motivator for Chaves and Giovagnoli’s participation, Petal Porches organizers also hosted three “neighborly” competitions, according to the event’s web page.
Participants could opt to compete for Prime Petal Porch, awarded to the best porch in each D.C. ward, Maryland and Virginia. The winner of each ward’s Prime Petal Porch then competed in a bracket on the Cherry Blossom Festival’s Instagram page, where voters determined the People’s Petal Porch. Festival staff also awarded Best Blossom Block to the street with the most participation and theme.
Event organizers announced this year’s winners on April 19. With her entry that featured over 1,000 paper cranes, Lauren Stockwell of Ward 6 earned the People’s Petal Porch title this year for her display “The House of 1,000 Cranes – Somewhere over the Crainbow.”