The National Cherry Blossom Festival with Kids
The 2027 National Cherry Blossom Festival runs March 20 to April 11. Four headline events are free and built for children: BloomFest at the Tidal Basin throughout, the Kite Festival on March 27, Petalpalooza at Navy Yard on April 3, and the Parade on April 10. Peak bloom is forecast separately.
Season: March–April (2027: Mar 20 – Apr 11) · Updated September 30, 2026 · refreshed weekly
- 2027 festival: March 20 – April 11, 2027
- Blossom Kite Festival: Saturday, March 27, 2027, 10am–4pm — free
- Petalpalooza: Navy Yard — Saturday, April 3, 2027, 1–9pm — free
- Parade: Saturday, April 10, 2027, 11am–1pm — free
- BloomFest: At the Tidal Basin throughout the festival — free
- Ticketed (not kids' events): The Opening Ceremony on March 20 and the Pink Tie Party on March 12
The four free family events
Four events on the 2027 programme are free and worth building a day around. Two others are ticketed and are not children's events: the Opening Ceremony and the Pink Tie Party.
BloomFest — Washington
The low-commitment option: no ticket, no timing and no plan needed.
Dates
- Throughout the festival, March 20 – April 11, 2027
Tickets
Free.
Who it's for
Any age, and the right answer if you only have an hour
Blossom Kite Festival — Washington
A full day of kites on open ground, and the best of the four for a family with children old enough to hold a string.
Dates
- Saturday, March 27, 2027, 10am–4pm
Tickets
Free.
Who it's for
Children old enough to fly a kite
Petalpalooza — Washington
An all-day festival whose long tail into the evening is what distinguishes it.
Dates
- Saturday, April 3, 2027, 1–9pm
Tickets
Free.
Who it's for
Families with a napper — sleep a toddler in the afternoon and still arrive for the second half
The Parade — Washington
A two-hour parade, which is short enough to be manageable with small children in a way most parades are not.
Dates
- Saturday, April 10, 2027, 11am–1pm
Tickets
Free.
Who it's for
Small children, thanks to the short window
Peak bloom is a forecast, not a date
The festival dates are fixed a year out; the blossoms are not. The Park Service and the festival publish a peak-bloom forecast in late winter.
- The three-week span is designed to bracket a normal bloom window, not to guarantee one
- If seeing the trees at peak is the whole point of the trip, keep the dates loose and watch the forecast rather than booking a weekend in October
Getting to the Tidal Basin with a stroller
Smithsonian is the station that puts you on the Mall itself, and its elevator entrance is at the northwest corner of 12th Street and Independence Avenue SW, with a second entrance at the southwest corner. Only folded strollers are allowed on Metrorail escalators, so an occupied stroller means the elevator.
- WMATA states there is no safe way to carry an infant in a stroller on an escalator, and that if the elevator is out you should carry the child and fold the stroller
- The system runs 320 elevators and publishes a live elevator and escalator status page — check it the morning you go, especially during festival weeks
- Metrobus is the easier ride with an open stroller: since 2023 you roll straight on, brakes locked, in the priority seating area
- Up to two children age four and under ride free with each fare-paying adult; from age five everyone pays and needs their own payment method
- Rail is $2.25–$6.75 at weekday peak, and $2.25–$2.50 after 9:30pm on weekdays and all weekend
- A new SmarTrip card is $2, or tap a contactless card, phone or watch at the faregate
Driving, and the one free shuttle
The Park Service recommends transit over driving, and street metering along Madison, Jefferson and Ohio Drives is capped at three hours. No dedicated shuttle loops the National Mall.
- The Wharf runs a free shuttle looping The Wharf, the SW Duck Pond, L'Enfant Plaza Metro and the National Mall
- That shuttle is the useful one if you are combining the Basin with the waterfront; otherwise it is Metro and walking
Crowds, and how to be somewhere else at 2pm
Museum crowds build from around noon and peak between 2 and 4pm, so be at the doors when they open at 10am. Do the Tidal Basin first: it is outdoors and open 24 hours.
- Rangers are on duty at the Basin from 9:30am to 10pm
- One museum before noon if you want one at all, then lunch, then keep the afternoon outside
- A Smithsonian visitor-experience study attributes the spring surge in visitation to the festival specifically, rather than to school groups
- The Smithsonian American Art Museum runs 11:30am to 7pm rather than 10 to 5:30, which makes it the one that still works at 4pm
The two museums that need passes
Two museums need advance work if they are on the list, and both catch families out during festival weeks. Everything else on the Mall is walk-in.
- Air and Space requires free timed-entry passes for every visitor regardless of age, and one person can reserve up to nine
- There is no re-entry on a single Air and Space pass once you leave
- The National Zoo requires free entry passes for all guests including infants, with grounds open 8am to 6pm and last entry at 5pm
- Natural History, American History and the Portrait Gallery are straight walk-ins
Food, bathrooms and the picnic rule
You can picnic on the Mall without a permit, and during the festival that is the obvious way to eat. Bathrooms are the genuine planning constraint around the Basin, and changing tables are reliably indoors.
- Small groups are welcome to use the picnic tables and benches throughout the National Mall and Memorial Parks, first-come, first-use
- A permit is only required to reserve the Hains Point Picnic Grove sites; alcohol is prohibited, only charcoal grills are allowed and only at reservable sites, and no vehicle may drive or park on the grass
- Guest Services operates nine food kiosks on and around the Mall
- The Washington Monument Lodge, on 15th Street between Madison and Jefferson Drives, has accessible restrooms and doubles as a food-vending area
- The FDR Memorial has restrooms near its southern entrance and more at the north entrance; the Park Service names the World War II and Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial areas as the nearest from the Reflecting Pool, with Reflecting Pool South listed as well
- Changing tables and care spaces are documented at every Smithsonian museum and the Zoo, with nursing rooms at American History's second-floor Welcome Center, Natural History's Constitution Avenue lobby and NMAAHC Level 3
No dated listings yet.
Exact dates land here automatically once they hit our catalog — we refresh weekly from local Washington-area sources. Check the official site above, or sign in for picks tuned to your family.
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FAQ
When is the 2027 National Cherry Blossom Festival?
March 20 through April 11, 2027 — already published on the festival's official site, which is unusually early. Peak bloom is separate and gets forecast in late winter, and the three-week span is designed to bracket a normal bloom rather than guarantee one.
What's the closest Metro to the Tidal Basin?
Smithsonian station, which puts you on the Mall itself. Its elevator entrance is at the northwest corner of 12th Street and Independence Avenue SW, with a second at the southwest corner — worth knowing, because an occupied stroller means the elevator rather than the escalator.
Is there a shuttle around the National Mall?
No dedicated Mall shuttle runs. The one free connector is The Wharf's shuttle, which loops The Wharf, the SW Duck Pond, L'Enfant Plaza Metro and the Mall — useful if you are combining the Basin with the waterfront. Otherwise it is Metro and walking.
Which festival event would you pick with a four-year-old?
Petalpalooza, because it runs to 9pm: nap the afternoon and arrive for the second half, instead of choosing between the event and the nap. The Parade is the other one that fits, at two hours.