Emperor Saga of the Heian Period […] held flower-viewing parties with sake and feasts underneath the blossoming boughs of sakura trees in the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Poems would be written praising the delicate flowers, which were seen as a metaphor for life itself, luminous and beautiful yet fleeting and ephemeral. —Wikipedia

The En Plein Air Coffee Club will meet for hanami Friday 17th April 2015 at 8am underneath the cherry trees near 11th Ave E and E Prospect St in Volunteer Park. Here’s a map.