By Christopher Smith
CCC Journalism Program
Camden County College’s annual bus trip to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. will take place April 16. The bus trip will depart from the Camden, Cherry Hill and Blackwood campuses beginning at 6:30 a.m.
A flyer for the Cherry Blossom Festival bus trip hangs outside the Student Life and Activities office. By Christopher Smith, CCC Journalism Program
The trip will be led by Renee Pollard, secretary of Student Life And Activities, who has been running this trip for the last seven years.
“Each year, the National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington, D.C.,” according to the National Cherry Blossom Festival website. The festival takes place from March 20 to April 17 this year. The parade will take place April 16, the day of the bus trip from Camden County College.
The bus holds 54 passengers and the trip is almost sold out. Tickets went on sale Feb. 8. Ticket prices are $35 for Camden County students, staff members and senior citizens and $45 for members of the general public.
“(The trip) always either sells out or sometimes we have to get a second bus,” said Pollard.
The trip has no set itinerary and participants will be able to visit the festival, the parade, the National Mall and the other sites in Washington, D.C.
“There’s a lot of things to do in Washington. You can’t do it all in one day,” Pollard stated. “It is a very educational trip. It’s one of the better things we offer.”
The bus will leave from the Camden campus at 6:30 a.m., the Cherry Hill campus at 6:45 a.m. and the Blackwood campus at 7 a.m. “If traffic is good, we get there about 10 a.m.,” Pollard said. The bus will depart from Washington, D.C. at 6 p.m.
Tickets are available at the Blackwood campus in the Office of Student Life and Activities in Room 200 of the Community Center or at 856-227-7200, ext. 4282, at the Camden campus in Room 211 of the Camden Technology Center or at 856-338-1817, ext. 1320, and at the Cherry Hill campus at the information desk or at 856-874-6000, ext 6008.