Blossom Trail officially opens with ceremony

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Blossom Trail season is officially underway today after a special ceremony kicked things off in the Fresno County town of Kingsburg.

A ribbon cutting ceremony with Swedish tradition marked the start of the 2012 Fresno County Blossom Trail.

Kingsburg serves as the official starting point and several rural cities will be featured along the route.

"It may start here this year, but we go through all our towns. We go through Orange Cove. We go through Selma. We go through Fowler. And the small towns are the towns that are really the blessings of being community," Kingsburg Mayor Bruce Blayney said.

If the weather holds up, the Valley should expect anywhere from 10-20 thousand visitors from all over the world.

We may only be in the first week of February, but there are already peach trees on Academy just north of Parlier starting to bloom.

Curious minds hoping to catch the next orchard bursting with color can now go online.

"We really like the idea that you can access the blossom trail 24 hours a day so, you can either view our website at Go Blossom Trail or you can sign up for Twitter and follow us and you'll be the first to know when we start spotting blossoms on the trail," Fresno County Tourism Manager Kristi Johnson

These other trees in Fresno County will eventually blossom and provide a beautiful display.

Valley growers' excitement this year is somewhat tempered because of the unseasonably dry winter we've been experiencing.

"One of the most critical things that we see this time of year as far as weather is the concern over thunder storms. The thunder storms by far when you have warm weather that rain that comes in, the hail can do much more damage than any rain storm we see," Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen said.

Until that wet weather hits the Valley, everyone involved in the Blossom Trail is excited about the other signs that point to a fruitful spring ahead.

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kingsburg, selma, orange cove, fowler, parlier, fresno county, ag watch, tommy tran

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