“Like life, the blossoms come, they bloom, they’re gone. Short but sweet,” DeFeo said. Bike stations OKed for National Mall ADVERTISING WASHINGTON (AP) — Five bicycle sharing stations have been approved for the National Mall to expand the Capital Bikeshare
Bike stations OKed for National Mall
WASHINGTON (AP) — Five bicycle sharing stations have been approved for the National Mall to expand the Capital Bikeshare program to the Washington’s top tourist destinations.
On Thursday, the National Capital Planning Commission approved plans to install the five bicycle sharing stations on the mall. The panel also encouraged the National Park Service to monitor demand for the bicycles and examine whether additional locations are needed.
The first stations would be located near major visitor destinations. They include the Smithsonian Metro station, the Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument and one between the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial and Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
The stations will each have 23 bicycles, except for the Lincoln Memorial station. It will have 25 bikes.
Capital Bikeshare is run by the District of Columbia and Arlington, Va.
New Elvis exhibit opens at Graceland
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A new exhibit chronicling Elvis Presley’s influence on pop music performers has opened at Graceland in Memphis.
The exhibit, called “Icon: The Influence of Elvis Presley,” opened Thursday at the Graceland tourist attraction. It includes 75 items on loan from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, plus other memorabilia from artists who have been influenced by Elvis.
Items featured in the exhibit include a suit worn by U2 frontman Bono on the group’s “Zooropa” tour; a leather jacket worn by Bob Dylan that appears on the album cover “Real Live”; and artifacts from James Brown, Elton John, Joan Jett, Bruce Springsteen, The Beatles, Katy Perry and other performers.
This year marks the 35th anniversary of Elvis’ death on Aug. 16, 1977, in Memphis.
100th season ahead for DC’s cherry trees
WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington is getting ready to celebrate 100 years of its famous cherry blossom trees, and the trees’ head tender said Thursday that peak flowering season is expected at the end of March.
National Park Service chief horticulturalist Rob DeFeo predicted the peak bloom date for the pink and white flowers will be between March 24 and March 31. The peak date is defined as the day when 70 percent of the blossoms on the trees are open. The trees, which are expected to start blooming March 22, attract about a million visitors to the nation’s capital each year.
“I can assure you, you’re not going to see a late bloom. It’s impossible,” said DeFeo, who has helped tend and monitor the cherry trees for the past two decades and has only been wrong about the bloom dates three times.
DeFeo said cherry blossom trees survive for about 50 years, but the city still has just over 100 of the original 3,000 trees given to the city by Japan in 1912. Those original trees are near the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial which opened in August. Thousands of other trees have been replaced or grown from the original trees’ genetic line.
DeFeo says the average cherry blossom flower lasts four to 10 days, but that depends on the weather. If it’s cool when the flowers bloom, they will last longer. The entire flowering period lasts approximately 10 to 18 days. The average peak bloom date is April 4.
“Like life, the blossoms come, they bloom, they’re gone. Short but sweet,” DeFeo said.
