#CherryBlossomMadness captured by East Vancouver resident (PHOTOS)
An Instagram hashtag has turned into a seasonal gallery of sorts for a Hastings-Sunrise resident.
LeLe Chan lives in the East Vancouver locale – one of the many areas in the city brimming with cherry blossoms this time of year.
So much so in fact, that people regularly make special trips to her neighbourhood to snap a picture or two of the annual bloom bonanza. And it’s become #CherryBlossomMadness.
Chan started documenting the cherry blossom visitors on Instagram and the “hilarious things I would see happening on my street.”
Chan told Daily Hive she works from home and often sees the “silly poses and masses of people from my living room window.”
At first, she said, it was confusing.
“Then it got annoying when 20-plus people at a time would stand in the middle of my lawn – or on my front steps – in order to get better selfies with the trees.”
But instead of getting mad, Chan decided to use the regular visits as entertainment.
And entertainment it has been.
“By far the craziest thing I saw was the bikini model photoshoot that happened in 2015,” she said.
There are other situations that get a little more personal.
Chan has had numerous people ring her doorbell asking to use her bathroom or step inside her house to charge their phone for a few minutes.
“There are people who come in the middle of the night, turn on giant spot lights, and photograph in the middle of the street,” she said. “Their lights often wake me up this time of year.”
For her part, Chan said she “doesn’t quite understand” why her street is so popular, but added it’s something she’s learned to live with.
“I now have a love/hate relationship with cherry blossom season as it’s so beautiful and I feel blessed to live on this street,” she added.
But the blossoms also “bring on the crazies and fills my street with heavy traffic and hundreds of strangers – not what a neighbourhood full of young kids need.”
Chan said she holds no resentment towards her neighbourhood, but just wishes visitors were more respectful of private property and people who live on the street.
To that end, Chan offered some tips to those who come to enjoy the cherry blossoms:
- Stay on the sidewalks and respect private property.
- Don’t block traffic by sitting in the middle of the street or setting up photo equipment etc in the middle of the street.
- Don’t pull/break the branches and flowers off the trees.
- Remember that people live here and that it’s normally a very quiet street. Don’t ask to use our bathrooms or pee in the back alley (yes that happens too).
Keep up with Chan’s cherry blossom documentation on Instagram:
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