By Allison Keyes
WTOP

WASHINGTON — Thanks to a chilly, steady rain on Saturday, there weren’t crowds of people at the Tidal Basin for the National Cherry Blossom Festival — nor were there crowds of blossoms.

But you can find a few wide open, cotton-candy like blossoms on some trees and even along the branches of trees that haven’t yet flowered.

“They have a little ways to go right,” Claudia Davis came from Deltaville, Virginia with her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend. They mocked her for picking this dreary day to decide to come see the blossoms for the first time.

“I came to see the cherry blossoms. Today, yes,” Davis said, as the others snickered behind her.

But she was glad to be there. So was Brian Sullivan, walking along in the rain, happily munching on a hamburger.  He comes every  year for the beautiful flowers and said he isn’t worried about the weather.

“They’re getting there,” he says.

The performance stage opened Saturday with a performance by Fiddling Leona, the only Country Music Association performing artist from Japan. Along with the 100 musical performances planned, there’s also the kite festival on April 2, fireworks on April 9, and a parade on April 16.

“We’re very excited,” says Diana Mayhew, president of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. But she warns: “We do encourage people to take public transportation.”