Skagit Valley Tulip Festival facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Skagit Valley Tulip Festival |
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| Date(s) | April 1 – April 30 |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location(s) | Skagit Valley, Washington, U.S. |
| Inaugurated | 1984 |
| Participants | 1 million+ |
The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is a super colorful tulip festival in the Skagit Valley of Washington state, United States. Every spring, from April 1 to April 30, this festival celebrates beautiful tulip flowers. It's a time when millions of tulips bloom, making the fields look like a giant rainbow! People from all over the world come to see these amazing fields.
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How the Tulip Festival Started
The story of tulips in Skagit Valley began a long time ago. Around 1883, a man named George Gibbs moved to Orcas Island. He was from England and started growing apples and hazelnuts.
Nine years later, he bought some flower bulbs. When he dug them up a few years later, he saw they had grown a lot! This made him realize that the Puget Sound area was perfect for growing flower bulbs.
George Gibbs wanted to learn more. He talked to Dutch growers in Holland, who were very good at growing bulbs. They were quite secret about their business. But when George sent some of his bulbs to Holland, the Dutch growers were amazed. They traveled to Orcas Island to see how well tulips could grow there, outside of Holland.
Tulip Growing Takes Off
In 1899, George Gibbs wrote to the United States Department of Agriculture. He told them about the great chance to grow bulbs in the area. They became interested! In 1905, they sent George 15,000 bulbs from Holland to try growing them.
This experiment was a huge success. So, in 1908, the United States Department of Agriculture started its own 10-acre test garden near Bellingham. It worked so well that the Bellingham Tulip Festival began in 1920. This festival showed off how successful the bulb-growing business had become.
Moving to Skagit County
The Bellingham Tulip Festival stopped in 1930. This was because of the Great Depression, a time when many people lost their jobs and money. Also, cold weather in 1916, 1925, and 1929 damaged the bulbs. This caused big losses for the growers. Because of these problems, the growers moved south to Skagit County.
In 1946, William Roozen came to the United States. His family in Holland had been growing bulbs for six generations! After working on different farms, Roozen started his own farm in Skagit County in 1950.
In 1955, he bought the Washington Bulb Company. This made him the top grower among the four main flower-growing families in the area. The Washington Bulb Company became the biggest grower of tulip, daffodil, and iris bulbs in North America.
The Modern Festival Begins
For many years, local tulip growers showed off their flowers in special gardens. Then, in 1984, the Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce started the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. It was a three-day event to add more fun during the bloom month.
Since then, the festival has grown a lot. Now, it lasts for a whole month! It also includes street fairs, art shows, and sports events.
Festival Challenges: 2020
The 2020 festival was canceled on March 25. This was because of the coronavirus pandemic. The virus affected Skagit County.
Festival organizers first planned a smaller event. They thought about letting fewer people into the gardens or only allowing car tours. But then the state government told everyone to stay home. So, they had to cancel the festival completely.
Tulip Town, a main festival spot, found new ways to share the beauty. They offered virtual tours online. They also donated flowers to hospital workers. This helped them make up for some of the money they lost. Some tulip fields even had their flowers cut early to stop people from visiting the area.
Festival Visitors
The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is one of Washington's biggest events. The festival organizers say over one million people visit each year! Other reports have shown numbers like 350,000 visitors in 2008 and 500,000 in 2003. No matter the exact number, lots of people come to see the amazing tulips!
Awards and Recognition
In 2010, the festival won an award! It was chosen as the best street fair in KING-TV's "Best of the Northwest" awards.
Gallery
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A field of tulips at Tulip Town in Mount Vernon during the 2013 festival
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Picture taken from the 2015 Tulip Festival
