Washington’s National Cherry Blossom Festival begins today, and any naughty children attending will be disciplined by huge, frightening Paddles the Beaver. The man-sized mascot is new, inspired by the Potomac beavers who felled several of DC’s cherry trees back in 1999.
Macon Georgia hosts the annual International Cherry Blossom Festival, and the mascot down there for the past few years has been Petals the Poodle, based on a real-life pink poodle named Lacie.
Coincidence?
Image and haiku by Mike Licht, based on a classic Japanese ukiyo-e print. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license. Credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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