The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is a tulip festival in the U.S. state of Washington. It is held annually in the Skagit Valley, a region of Skagit County, from April 1 to 30.
| Skagit Valley Tulip Festival | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date | April 1 – April 30 |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Locations | Skagit Valley, Washington, U.S. |
| Inaugurated | 1984[1] |
| Participants | 1 million+ |
| Website | www |
History
editBackground
edit
Around 1883, George Gibbs, an immigrant from England, moved to Orcas Island, where he began to grow apples and hazelnuts. Nine years later, he purchased five dollars' worth of flower bulbs to grow, and when he dug them up a couple years later and saw how they had multiplied, realized the potential for bulb-growing in the Puget Sound region. He contacted Dutch growers in Holland to learn about the business, only to find the Dutch to be highly secretive about their commercial practices. However, when he shipped off a few bulbs to Holland, the impressed Dutch growers traveled to Orcas Island to see for themselves how tulips could grow outside Holland.
In 1899, Gibbs wrote to the United States Department of Agriculture about the commercial prospects of bulb-growing in the region, and they took interest. In 1905, they sent Gibbs 15,000 bulbs imported from Holland to grow as an experiment, under a contract. The experiment was so successful that the United States Department of Agriculture established its own 10-acre test garden in 1908 around Bellingham, which proved successful enough for the Bellingham Tulip Festival to begin in 1920 to showcase and celebrate the success of the bulb industry.
The Bellingham Tulip Festival was discontinued in 1930, due to the Great Depression and bulb freezes in 1916, 1925, and 1929 that brought heavy losses to the growers. Subsequently, the growers moved south into Skagit County.[2]
In 1946, William Roozen arrived in the United States, leaving behind a successful bulb-growing business spanning six generations in Holland. After working on several farms, Roozen started his own in Skagit County in 1950. In 1955, he purchased the Washington Bulb Company, making him the leader among the four flower-growing families in the area, and making the Washington Bulb Company the leading grower of tulip, daffodil, and iris bulbs in North America.[3] The farm operates a public display garden and gift shop called Roozengaarde, founded in 1985.[4] It is among the largest attractions at the festival and spans 50 acres (20 ha) with approximately 1 million bulbs.[5]
Modern festival
editLocal tulip growers showed their bulbs through display gardens prior to the formal establishment of a festival. The Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce organized the first Skagit Valley Tulip Festival as a three-day event in 1984 to add festivities during the bloom month.[6] The event later grew into a month-long event with street fairs, art shows, and sporting events.[7]
The 2020 festival was cancelled on March 25 due to the coronavirus pandemic.[8] Festival organizers had initially planned for a smaller event with limited numbers of people allowed at display gardens and later car-only tours, but cancelled after the state government issued a stay-at-home order.[9] Tulip Town, a major festival venue, announced plans to use virtual tours and flower donations for hospital workers to recoup their lost revenue.[10] Several tulip fields were prematurely cut to prevent people from visiting the area.[11]
Attendance and impact
editThe festival claims to be Washington's largest, with over one million visitors.[12] In 2003, Travel + Leisure put attendance at 500,000;[13] in 2008, at least one news source put attendance at 350,000;[14] and in 2023, KING 5 estimated the festival drew 400,000 to 500,000 visitors.[15]
The 2024 festival generated an estimated $83 million in revenue within Skagit County.[5]
Awards
editThe festival was selected as the best street fair in KING-TV's "Best of the Northwest" awards in 2010.[16]
Gallery
edit
A field of tulips at Tulip Town in Mount Vernon during the 2013 festival
Picture taken from the 2015 Tulip Festival
References
edit- ↑ "Skagit Tulip History".
- ↑ Ament, Deloris Tarzan (May 12, 1996). "Bulb Business – History Points To George Gibbs As The Man Who Started The Tulip Industry Here - In Whatcom, Not Skagit, County". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on July 3, 2025. Retrieved May 20, 2026.
- ↑ Reang, Putsata (April 7, 1998). "Family Tulip Business Blooms". The Seattle Times.
- ↑ Weinberg, Aaron (April 9, 2016). "Tulip Festival drawing huge crowds". Skagit Valley Herald. Archived from the original on July 15, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
- 1 2 Peterson, Jenna (April 16, 2025). "Stop and smell the flowers at Skagit Valley Tulip Festival". The Everett Herald. Archived from the original on May 5, 2025. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
- ↑ "History - Skagit Tulip Festival". 2016. Archived from the original on 2011-01-05. Retrieved 2011-01-17.
- ↑ Titus, Mandi. "Tulip Festival in Washington". USA Today. Archived from the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
- ↑ Sistek, Scott (March 25, 2020). "Annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival canceled amid coronavirus outbreak". KOMO News. Archived from the original on April 10, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
- ↑ Allison, Jacqueline (March 20, 2020). "Tulip Festival still a go, but questions remain". Skagit Valley Herald. Archived from the original on April 11, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
- ↑ Pacheco Flores, Agueda (March 30, 2020). "As coronavirus wilts the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, a farm adapts". Crosscut.com. Archived from the original on April 11, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
- ↑ Sanders, Julia-Grace (May 2, 2020). "Skagit festival can draw 400K tourists. This year? Nearly 0". The Everett Herald. Archived from the original on May 3, 2020. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
- ↑ "28th Annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival ~ Spring 2011". Skagit Valley Tourism Group. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
- ↑ Seely, Kimberly (March 2003). "Weekender: Skagit Valley, Washington / For one short month each year, northwestern Washington—along with some half-million visitors—witnesses nature at its most vivid". Travel + Leisure.
- ↑ Sarah Jackson (March 28, 2008). "Skagit Valley Tulip Festival ready to bloom". Everett Herald. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
- ↑ Wilkinson, Eric (March 29, 2024). "After four rough years, Skagit Valley Tulip Festival ready to bloom again". KING 5 News. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
- ↑ Best of the Northwest awards, KING TV, archived from the original on 2010-11-23, retrieved 2011-01-17
Further reading
edit- Tulipmania: the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival: official festival guidebook, 1989, ISBN 0-89087-584-7