It’s nice to know as an American, that you don’t need to go all the way to Holland for colorful tulip fields. An hour north of Seattle is the annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival from April 1 – 30. Here, you can observe the vivid tulips exploding into bloom. As a Seattleite, I go to the tulip festival wherever I can and love sharing the highlights of this Washington state travel destination.
Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Background
Just a 1 hour drive north of Seattle is the beautiful Skagit Valley, near Mount Vernon. Since 1984 the vivid Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is open for visitors from April 1 – 30. Overall, there are dozens of tulip and daffodil fields in full bloom scattered throughout Skagit Valley for one glorious month. The crops all come from 2 companies: RoozenGaarde / Washington Bulb Co. and Tulip Town.
Each year the crops are rotated to different fields. Visitors explore the rainbow of flowers by bicycle, car and even walking. It does get crowded, especially on weekends, so it’ recommended to carpool if taking a car. (Check out Park N Ride locations) And if you go on a bike, drive defensively as everyone is excited about the tulips.
The festival celebrates the tulips through various events and shows. For example, there are art shows, galas, Mount Vernon Street Fair, local food vendors and kite flying. There’s even winetasting at the Tulip Valley Winery and an alpaca farm. Besides its numerous tulip fields, the RoozenGaarde has a display garden with various flowers, such as, tulips, daffodils, peonies, hyacinths and crocus. Here, there are also gift shops and various flower exhibits.
