Skagit Valley Tulip Festival April 1-30 - Greater Seattle on the Cheap

The annual Skagit Valley tulip festival runs April 1-30 and is one of the favorite destination events for the Pacific Northwest. For over three decades, every spring hundreds of thousands of people from across the United States and from around the world come to enjoy the celebration of spring as millions of tulips burst into bloom in the farm fields north of Seattle.

2021 Tulip Festival
YES, THERE WILL BE TULIPS IN 2021! So far, that is what is known for sure!
Tulip Town is busy planning the festival, but exactly what that will look like will depend on what restrictions are in place due to COVID-19. Stay tuned!
Live stream: unveiling of 2021 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Poster
The Facebook Live unveiling of the 2021 Tulip Festival poster took place November 17, 2020 at 6PM. This year’s poster is by artist Jennifer McGill.
More info on the : https://www.facebook.com/events/2677842325764876/

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About the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Skagit Valley Tulip fields photo by Northwest Trade Photos/William Perry – DepositPhotos.com

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is one of THE destination events for the Pacific Northwest. Each year, the festival welcomes people from across the United States and from around the world, including all 50 states and 85+ foreign countries!

In 1984, the Tulip Festival began as a 2-day event and eventually grew to include the entire month of April.

Eventually, the festival expanded to a month-long event. This helped to ensure that the huge fields of tulips in the Skagit Valley would bloom sometime during the festival. Shorter festivals sometime missed the blooming of the fields. Ultimately, Mother Nature controls the bloom calendar!

Today the festival boasts an amazing assortment of events: art shows, gala celebrations, concerts, tours of local shellfish and farming operations, an open house at PACCAR, and much more. The festival also provides a showcase for agriculture throughout the Skagit Valley.

Two signature events include the Downtown Mount Vernon Street Fair and the Kiwanis Salmon Barbecue. There are lots of additional festival activities: running events, bike rides, and basketball tournaments, to name a few. These fundraisers help raise money for local organizations.

For more information, visit the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival website.

How to enjoy the Tulip Festival

The festival is designed as a driving tour. There is no one “site” to visit. Fields of tulips are scattered throughout the Skagit Valley. The tulip fields are the crops of RoozenGaarde/Washington Bulb Co., Inc. and Tulip Town.

You can enjoy the Tulip Festival as a short driving tour, a day-long getaway, or stay overnight in the area and enjoy many of the other activities, events, and local food.

As with all things governed by Mother Nature, the tulips bloom according to their own schedule at sometime during the festival. Further, due to crop rotation, the fields are in different locations each year.

However, you can easily find where the tulips are located each year, using the current year map and brochure (see links below).

Both RoozenGaarde and Tulip Town have displays of tulips in gardens for visitors to view and photograph at the festival visitor center.

On the busiest days (weekends) it can take a fair amount of time to journey from the freeway to the tulip fields.

Therefore, it is strongly suggested that you stop in Mount Vernon on your way to the fields. You can take advantage of the public facilities available there BEFORE you journey out to the tulip area. There are public restrooms at all the Tulip information centers in the county (see link below for locations) and at the transit station in downtown Mount Vernon.

If you are coming from the north, the Outlet Shoppes at Burlington is an easy stop with a chance to use the restrooms, stretch your legs (perhaps shop a bit), and then continue south on the freeway to the tulip fields.

More info: https://tulipfestival.org/getting-here. You can also find information about lodging, dining, and activities for a longer stay.

Also see our Skagit Valley trip planner.

Daffodil fields bloom about a month earlier than tulips. They’re featured at the La Conner Daffodil Festival, south of Mount Vernon. DepositPhotos.com

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival map and brochure

You can download the current year map or brochure using the following links. It’s updated for the current year usually in early spring.

Use the Interactive Tulip Festival map which in addition to location, will give you updated “bloom” status on a day-to-day basis
Download and Print the Tulip Festival map
Download and Print the Tulip Festival brochure

Many visitors to the area start at the visitor center, which also has printed maps and brochures: Tulip Festival Office, 311 W Kincaid St, Mount Vernon, WA 98273. You will also find souvenirs and display gardens.

But wait, there’s more!