In a normal year, the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival takes place during the entire month of April.  Washington State’s Skagit Valley is the world’s second largest producer of tulips and bulbs, outside of The Netherlands.  There are a couple of large growers who open their fields for the festival; they charge for parking across the street, and tourists are allowed to walk between the rows of flowers, taking pictures and just admiring the beautiful colors of the flowers.  They also sell bulbs, cut flowers, and other festival merchandise (there is a new t-shirt design by a local artist each year, and they get to be collectors’ items).

This year of 2020, the Festival was cancelled, due to the State Shelter-in-Place Order to stop the spread of the Wuhan Coronavirus.  And to make doubly sure that no one got in their cars and drove up anyway, the farmers (probably directed by Festival officials) turned off the “Tulip Cams” that show how the fields are doing, so people can see the flowers at their best full bloom.  Double-whammy for all those who look forward to a trip to see the flowers.

Hubby and I go most years, and I try to get new photos each year.  So here are many of the photos I have taken in previous years.  I hope you enjoy them.

2015

2017

The farmers in the Skagit also grow daffodils, and they bloom before the tulips.

2019 was an exceptional year for the tulips.

It’s a crying shame that the state government dictated that the tulip-growers of the Skagit Valley were unable to sell their crop this year.  So unnecessary, and so depressing for those of us who need those brightly-colored flowers to show us that Spring has arrived.  We fervently hope that the growers will be back next year.