Peekskill Rotary 1st Annual Cherry Blossom Festival & Plant Sale

The Rotary Club of Peekskill will host its 1st Annual Cherry Blossom Festival, Plant Sale & Book Drive on Saturday, April 28 at the Peekskill Riverfront Green.

Admission and parking are free and the event will go on, rain or shine. Festivities will run from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. that include a plant sale, book drive, ceramic pot painting, poster contest and kids activities that include an educational scavenger hunt!

In addition to a Cherry Blossom Raffle, there will also be a Silent Auction with donated prizes to include Giants and Mets tickets as well as gift certificates from Arthur Weeks Jewelers and Skinchanted Spa. Food trucks featuring delicious fare from local restaurants will also be on hand.

100 Cherry Trees Commemorate Peekskill Rotary's 100 Year Anniversary

There are 80 trees in the ground at the riverfront, from Peekskill landing all the way down to China Pier. Another 20 will be planted near Charles Point Marina in the fall, and once they are, the 100 donated trees will represent an $80,000 gift from the Rotary Club of Peekskill and will commemorate Peekskill Rotary’s 100 year anniversary in 2019.

Rotary President Chappy Manzer, owner of Peekskill-based Manzer's Landscape Design & Development, Inc., secured the trees wholesale and planted them at no cost. Once the remaining 20 plants are in the ground, the city will take full ownership of them from the Rotary. “The long-term goal is to bring a multi-week cherry blossom festival to Peekskill. We want something similar to what goes on in Washington, DC and in Belleville, New Jersey.”.

“This year we are working with Peekskill schools,” Manzer said. “Next year, we hope to work with Peekskill and Hen Hud or Peekskill and Walter Panas. After that, maybe Peekskill and Putnam Valley or Yorktown. We want to involve the entire region.” In fact,“schools are already pitching in, working with the Rotary to hold a poster contest among the students. The winner will see his or her painting on festival shirts and posters.

Peekskill Rotary's Golden Bookshelves Project

The event will benefit Peekskill Rotary’s Golden Bookshelves, which aims to increase literacy skills in Peekskill among pre-school and school age children. With materials funded by the Rotary Club of Peekskill Foundation and support from Dain's Lumber and The Cortlandt Town Center, ten “Golden Bookshelves” were crafted and stocked with age appropriate, new and gently used children’s books in both English and Spanish. The “Golden Bookshelves” will be strategically placed in Peekskill community facilities serving children including one at the cherry blossom festival. The Festival will also feature a book drive for newborns up to eighth-graders.

The riverfront is so nice and adding the cherry trees makes it that much nicer,” Manzer said. “This is our gift to Peekskill and surrounding towns that allows everyone to get out of the house and celebrate the beginning of spring.”

The Rotary Club of Peekskill was chartered 98 years ago. The club has about 90 members representing a cross-section of the Peekskill and Cortlandt communities.