Mind your manners, East Van residents ask annual crowd of cherry blossom visitors

Cherry blossom madness irks residents The cherry blossom trees are in full bloom right across Vancouver. And while they're a dream for tourists and Instagrammers, they can be a nightmare for locals.

People living in East Vancouver's most popular cherry blossom hot spot know there's nothing they can do to stop the annual influx of visitors – they just want people to mind their manners.

Every year, the picturesque backdrops on Graveley Street draw thousands of people searching for the perfect cherry blossom selfie. Some bring elaborate costumes, others show up in bikinis, and a few have tried filming rap videos.

Resident Lele Chan said one visitor set up a rowing machine in the middle of the street for a quick photo shoot.

"Full-on rowing machines, like for working out," Chan said. "Those aren't light things to haul."

People living along Graveley might not mind the traffic, except that many visitors seem perfectly happy to walk on their lawns or block traffic to get the perfect angle.

"Apparently the best shots are from the middle of the street," said Chan. "But it is a functioning road, which goes back to manners."

Chan and some of her neighbours have even started cordoning off their yards with caution tape or rope to keep people away, but the results have been mixed – people just step over the line anyway.

"I mean, it's spring," Chan said. "We try to grow our grass, and when everyone starts standing on the lawns to get their perfect angle shots with the low-hanging branches, it gets to be a bit of a pain."

One video posted to Chan's Cherry Blossom Madness Instagram account, where she has been documenting the mayhem for years, shows a woman posing on the grass directly beside her rope as a man snaps pictures.

"Yes, please lie down and just relax," Chan says in the video.

Fortunately for fed up residents, the blooming period for only lasts a few weeks before the pink petals float away.

Though their neighbourhood is one of the busiest photo spots, there are at least 40,000 cherry blossom trees across Vancouver.