derBayerische July/August 2023 - 14

The Cherry Blossom Run
Celebrates Its Third Year at the Tidal Basin
Story and photos by Mike Bevels
F
or its third year in a row, the
Washington, D.C. area's Cherry
Blossom Run has dazzled
both local and not-so-local BMW
enthusiasts in attendance. What
started as an impromptu early
morning cruise amongst nine
classic-BMW-owning friends has
truly blossomed-see what I did
there?!-into a full-scale, independently
organized annual automotive
event.
It began in 2021 when friend
and fellow BMW fanatic Sean
Vojecky messaged me, " We're all
going to the Tidal Basin tomorrow
morning to get photos of the E30s.
Wanna come? " Let's just say it wasn't
a hard sell as he had me at " E30. "
So, at five a.m. on a Sunday morning,
eight E30s and one E38 met in
Tysons Corner, Virginia and cruised
14
30 minutes into the nation's capital.
We arrived as the sun was rising over
the Tidal Basin, lined with D.C.'s
famous cherry blossom trees in peak
bloom. In addition to enjoying each
other's company, it made for a great
photo opp with the original nine:
Jorge Figueredo, Alfonso Larios,
Julio Lemus, Alexander Machuca,
Paul Machuca, Alexis Moreno, Jerry
Valega, Sean Vojecky, and myself.
For its second year, the event
grew in size and took things up a
notch, building on the format of the
previous year's run. This time, a total
of 60 BMWs cruised into D.C.,
30 of which were E30s. The cherry
blossom trees were once again in
peak bloom, and seeing so many
classic BMWs cruise under a canopy
of flowers was surreal. As an added
bonus, and my personal favorite part
of the event, the sizable group headed
to Urbano restaurant in Fairfax,
Virginia's Mosaic District, where the
streets were blocked off for a BMW
car show. Attendees enjoyed a
special menu, all thanks to Cherry
Blossom Run co-organizer and
Urbano's Managing Partner, Jorge
Figueredo.
That brings us to this year's
event, which took place on Sunday,
April 16th. With a few small tweaks
and simplifications to the show's
schedule, the collective of customized
BMWs met at the starting
point in Mosaic District. After sunrise,
we drove to a familiar spot on
Ohio Drive SW and parked under
descendants of the original cherry
blossom trees gifted to the U.S. by
Japan in 1912. Across the Potomac
River, planes taxied, took off, and
landed at Reagan International
Airport. Unlike the blustery lateMarch
weather from the previous
year, this year was perfect-not too
hot, not too cold, with minimal wind.
While we missed peak bloom
by two weeks, this may have been for
the best. Based on images seen on
local news and social media there
was an absolute cherry-blossom
craze in late March. Two weeks prior,
the people were as plentiful as the
petals on D.C.'s Tidal Basin, which
would've made it a challenge to
navigate and park in the city. We
did manage to find one remaining
flowering tree, which provided an
ongoing shower of petals onto
Figueredo's 1989 325iS (E30) and
Julio Lemus' 2001 740iL (E38).
After an hour in D.C., our gaggle
of German vehicles headed back
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