o What: The 13th annual Woodland Tulip Festival, with vendors, a display garden, a U-pick field and contests.
o Where: Holland America Bulb Farm, 1066 S. Pekin Road, Woodland.
o When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 11 and 12 and April 18 and 19. Gift shop open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends.
o Cost: Free, 50 cents per U-pick tulip.
o Information: 360-225-4512 or habf.net
This weekend’s forecast: Expect a flood of stunning reds, yellows and pinks with a high probability of laughing, happy kids in the Woodland area near Holland America Bulb Farm.
Despite the early spring, the tulip and flower grower still has a colorful array of fields ready for U-pickers and families as part of its 13th annual Woodland Tulip Festival this weekend and the weekend of April 18.
o What: The 13th annual Woodland Tulip Festival, with vendors, a display garden, a U-pick field and contests.
o Where: Holland America Bulb Farm, 1066 S. Pekin Road, Woodland.
o When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 11 and 12 and April 18 and 19. Gift shop open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends.
o Cost: Free, 50 cents per U-pick tulip.
o Information: 360-225-4512 or habf.net
“The flowers did come up early,” said Stacey Lane, the company’s retail manager. “But things are still looking great. I would say the first weekend (April 11-12) would be the best one to see everything in full glory. But we’ll still have lots of color on our second weekend.”
Because of the unseasonably warm late winter and early spring, Holland America opened its U-pick and show fields three weeks earlier this year. Tulip season normally comes to a close in late April or early May, but late-blooming varieties are still going strong, Lane said. After the tulips are done, the farm will grow lilies and peonies for Mother’s Day and other spring holidays.
“We’re really just transitioning into other flowers this time of year,” Lane said. “Tulip season is typically November through May, so it’s ending a little early, but we have lots of other things going on.”
The farm stayed open year-round for the first time in 2014, and sales went very well, she said.
This year, the farm also plans to be open year-round.
“Summer and winter are a bit slower than spring and fall,” Lane said. “But we’ve stayed pretty busy. After spring, the next big season is September, October, November when people come to get their bulbs.”
Holland America has 125 varieties of tulips, although they don’t grow all of them at the same time each year.
And this year, the fields are located in an area further down South Pekin Road than they were in prior years.
“We did a field rotation,” Lane said. “Generally, people are used to seeing our fields right away, but they’re a little less visible this year because they’re in a different spot.”
Tulips originally came from Turkey, and some experts think the name of the plant was derived from the Turkish word for turban because of the flower’s shape.
The Dutch started cultivating the plant by the early 1600s, and today the country is still the world’s top producer of tulips.
The tulip festival started after Benno Dobbe, owner and president of the farm, and his wife, Klazina, immigrated to the Pacific Northwest from Holland in 1980 with their three children and decided to give locals a chance to buy some of their cut flowers and bulbs.
The business, founded in 1983, had been shipping cut tulips and bulbs nationwide to gardening stores and florists, but didn’t really have any local sales operations until neighbors started asking if they could buy plants, said the couple’s daughter, Nicolette Wakefield.
Those sales eventually grew into the first Tulip Festival.
The first festival had 10 vendors and a small part of a field set out as a display garden. Now it has a show field with 180 row-sized plots that display several varieties of the flower, plus a display garden, a U-pick lot, several vendors, Dutch food, a youth art contest, a cutest baby contest and several other activities.
“The youth art contest is new this year,” Lane said. “It’s for ages 10 to 18, and the youth are encouraged to bring any type of art and drop it off.”
Participants in that contest will have their work displayed at the farm’s Art Show and Wine Festival on April 25. That show will run from 5 to 9 p.m. and will feature wines from Ridgefield’s Bethany Vineyard & Winery.
“They’ll bring a nice selection and we’ll have catering here, as well,” Lane said of the late April event, which costs $15 in advance or $20 at the gate for those who want to join the wine tasting.
The Tulip Festival will also include several vendors and food options, including smoked meat, wood-fired pizza, shaved ice, fudge and coffee.
“Come down and join the party,” Lane said. “This is our biggest event of the year. We have so many activities and the flowers are beautiful.”
