It’s wonderful 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 possible and love sharing the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival highlights.
Background of Festival
Just a one-hour drive north of Seattle is the beautiful Skagit Valley, near Mount Vernon. Since 1984 the spectacular Skagit Valley Tulip Festival has been opened for visitors from April 1 – 30. Overall, there are about 1,000 acres of tulip and daffodil fields in full bloom scattered throughout Skagit Valley for one glorious month. Previously the crops mostly came from 2 large farms: RoozenGaarde / Washington Bulb Co. and Tulip Town. However, this year there’s an additional farm, the 13-acre Garden Rosalyn. It’s the only farm that allows well-behaved dogs there to get their picture taken.
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’s 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. If you don’t have transportation, you can catch the Skagit Transit Route 615 from Skagit Station. From this route, get off at Beaver Marsh (RoozenGaarde) and Mc Lean Road (Tulip Town).
Here’s the link for the Printable Map of the festival.
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.
Overall, the scenery is stunning with the brilliant tulips, rustic barns and backdrop of the Cascade mountains. It doesn’t get any better than this natural beauty! Also, you can choose fresh tulip bulbs from the fields to purchase.
Planning for the Festival
Tulip Fun Fact: Tulips are native to central Asian and Turkey. Later, tulips were brought to Holland, where they are world renowned for their colorful tulip fields in spring.
To avoid the crowds, schedule your visit for a weekday and arrive in early morning. Also, buy tickets for $15 online ahead of time to avoid lines for RoozenGaarde and Tulip Town. Other fields charge $15/car. Accommodations are available in Mount Vernon, Burlington and La Conner. Furthermore, the festival is just an hour north of Seattle and half hour south of Bellingham. Overall, there’s plenty to see in the Pacific Northwest along with the tulips. Whenever I go to the festival, I go to the Skagit Valley Food Co-op in Mount Vernon to stock up on healthy food and drinks.
Overall, Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Highlights
Whether traveling near or far, it’s more than worth it to visit this slice of Holland in the American Pacific Northwest. Overall, it’s wonderful for family fun, romantic for couples and invigorating for solo travelers. And it’s a photographer’s dream. After all who doesn’t love tulips? And the bonus of color therapy brings a vibrational shift to happiness. What a better way to celebrate spring!
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