Skagit Tulip Festival returns with a third garden. Here’s when you’ll find peak bloom.
The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is returning in 2022 with new features and old favorites.
“It’s actually been a great year for growing tulips,” Executive Director of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Cindy Verge said in a telephone interview. Verge said the tulips should start blooming on Friday, April 1, and recommends people come between April 7 to April 14 to see the most tulips in bloom.
One of the biggest new features of the April 1-30 festival is another farm was added to the roster. Garden Rosalyn opened last year and will be joining the festival circuit this year.
“This particular garden has a man-made pond in the middle of it with ducks and geese,” Verge said. The owner has “built tulip pathways and beds all around that pond area.”
Garden Rosalyn is a 13-acre complex with 6 acres of tulips planted in geometric designs at Kamb and Jungquist roads in Mount Vernon. It is the only garden in the tulip festival that allows leashed, well-behaved dogs to attend and have their pictures taken.
Tickets are available for purchase at the gates for $12, children ages 5 and under gain free admission and parking on location is free. Garden Rosalyn will be open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. everyday from April 1 to May 2.
Tulip Town and RoozenGaarde will return to participate in the festival this year. Tulip Town couldn’t plant as many tulips in its fields to showcase because of the heavy rains in November.
“I was just out there and (Tulip Town) still has tulips coming up and they’ve got a gorgeous indoor display,” Verge said. “They also did a lot of planting in planter boxes of bulbs they couldn’t have in the field.”
Tickets for Tulip Town can be purchased on its website for $15, ages 12 and up; $7, ages 6-11; and free, ages 5 and younger. Tulip Town is open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. everyday April 1 to May 2 at 15002 Bradshaw Road, Mount Vernon.
RoozeGaarde tickets are also available for purchase on its website for $15, ages 3 and up; free, ages 2 and down. RoozeGaarde is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekends through May 1 at 15867 Beaver Marsh Road, Mount Vernon.
The display gardens have free parking but roadside parking is limited in the fields due to shoulder conditions and traffic safety regulations. Paid parking is available at private lots in the tulip field area, according to the festival website.
Even though the festival is going to look a little different, Verge said they’re bringing back classic activities they couldn’t have last year.
“With everybody coming out of COVID, we’ve just got a full slate of events and activities,” Verge said.
Festival events and activities
- Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, Fir-Conway Lutheran Church, 18101 Fir Island Road, Mount Vernon.
- Fidalgo Island Quilters Quilt Walk, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., April 1-April 30, Anacortes Chamber of Commerce, 819 Commercial Ave.
- Kiwanis Salmon Barbecue, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, Hillcrest Park Lodge, 1717 S 13th St., Mount Vernon, $20-$23.
- Spring Garage Sale, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., April 8-April 9, Skagit County Fairgrounds, 501 Taylor St., Mount Vernon, $4.
Interactive and printable maps, which include the three main farms and other local attractions, are available at tulipfestival.org.