April 9
...serving up your daily dish.
Kathleen Galop grew up in the Forest Hill section of Newark. She’s a third-generation Newarker. Her father was a fire captain and two of her uncles were fireman in Newark. She remembers her father being called to duty during the Newark riots vividly. Wondering, after three days, when he was coming home. Or worse yet, if.
But she also remembers another Newark. A memory that’s shared by thousands of people who lived there during the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s, memories of fabulous shopping and entertainment, swanky mansions and lush neighborhoods.
In 1975, while working as a corporate attorney at The Prudential in Newark, Golub, along with Gary Brian Liss, an environmental engineer for the City of Newark, decided to create an eternal flame for their beloved city, the Annual Cherry Blossom Festival.
Since then, some 2,700 Japanese cherry trees take center stage, in a burst of pink, from April 10-23.
As vice chair & secretary of the Branch Brook Park Alliance, Galop likes to think those trees helped pave the way for the “Newark Renaissance”. Now a documentary on Old Newark is in the works.
For Cherry Blossom Festival events starting this weekend, see Thrills.
April 9, 2005 in Suburban Archeologist | Permalink
I'll be one of many runners doing the 10K there at 10 a.m. Sunday morning.
Are the blossoms blossoming yet?
Posted by: Chris | Apr 9, 2005 2:51:09 PM
One of the most beautiful sites around this area in the spring. Visit if you can.
In 1976, my husband carved our names in the trunk of one of the cherry trees. We still visit once in a while and reminisce...
Posted by: Linda | Apr 9, 2005 5:30:19 PM
Carving names in a tree would NEVER have happened during the cherry blossom years I remember and cherish most! No one was allowed to desecrate a tree. No one was allowed to break off branches. They were treated like gold at Fort Knox.
A family tradition was to visit each year on Easter Sunday. Mom and we girls in our Easter bonnets and finery, Dad and my brother in their suits and fedoras. Dad and brother had carnations pinned to their lapels, mom and my sister and I proudly wore the corsages Dad and brother went out to buy early Easter Sunday morning.
Thanks for the memories...
Posted by: Karen | Apr 9, 2005 9:33:13 PM
