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A chapel of cherry blossoms

An avenue blooms in Cherry Hill

It's cherry blossom time along Chapel Avenue in Cherry Hill, NJ.

Hundreds of double-blossomed kwanzan variety cherry trees between Haddonfield Road and Kings Highway should be in full display for the rest of April.

The recent removal of 17 shade trees scattered along nearly two miles of Chapel has created an almost unbroken expanse of cherry trees. Local firefighters recently planted another 37 kwanzans to essentially complete the avenue.

This glorious vista exists because of efforts by hundreds if not thousands of volunteers over the last 40 years.

But no one deserves more credit than Joe Zanghi, the civic-minded Cherry Hill resident who since 1973 has pursued his dream to make Chapel into a source and centerpiece of community pride (read my recent column here).

"I'm a little amazed," says Zanghi, a retired entrepreneur. "And II'm grateful to Mayor Cahn for his support."