Though this spring has been annoyingly cold for most of us, the tulips don’t mind one bit.
In fact, they thrive on it.
So experts say to expect tulips to begin blooming this week, right on schedule for the 24th annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, which begins Sunday and runs through April 30.
“When you have a nice cool March, it has the tulips blooming in April,” said Cindy Verge, the festival’s executive director.
The tulip festival is the rite of spring for many, many tourists and visitors to Skagit County, where the fields are blanketed with acres and acres of color.
And it’s looking like the flowers will cooperate this year, so visitors can view the fields, order bulbs or buy bunches of picked beauties, Verge said.
“Tulips provide a pretty unique crop because you get a harvest twice: You get the flowers and the bulbs,” Verge said.
Verge reminded tulip lovers to dress smartly – there’s that annoying cold spring again – and by that she means in layers. It’s windy out in the flats where the flowers grow and it also tends to be muddy, so be prepared.
And this might seem blasphemous, but even if there aren’t that many tulips at first, this month-long festival is so packed with events and activities, you might not even notice the state of the flowers.
The complete brochure along with everything you need to know about the tulip festival can be retrieved from the Web site at www.tulipfestival.org.
There’s the standard fare of art shows, wine tastings, kite-flying demonstrations, children’s activities, even boat tours for those who want to take a flower break and look at wildlife.
“Tulips is a unique festival,” Verge said. “When people come up, they want to go exploring and learn about our area … and there are a lot of different farms that open their doors. Those people who live in the city or most suburban people don’t get that up close and personal with cows and alpacas and learn to make cheese or go to a shellfish farm.”
There are also new events this year to surprise repeat festival visitors.
At Tulip Town on Bradshaw Road in Mount Vernon, the International Tulip Peace Garden is introduced this year. These gardens have tulip displays for each of the 16 countries around the world that have a peace garden. Visitors can also learn how the tulip came to be the world’s peace flower (Hint: It has to do with the queen of Holland.)
The field at Tulip Town also has 60 varieties of tulips, many new and unusual.
The free Skagit Tulip Fly-in and Airshow planned for April 28 is also new. All types of aircraft, including military and vintage, will be flying into Skagit Regional Airport.
Though not new but both quite popular, the Anacortes Quilt Walk and the 20th annual Kiwanis Club of La Conner Not So Impromptu Tulip Parade are scheduled for April 14.
Arts writer Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.
The 2007 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival poster – a mixed media work – was designed by Salt Spring Island, B.C., artist Amy Melious.
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