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If there is one thing Skagit Valley is known for, other than our cabbage seeds (yes, not cabbage, but cabbage seeds), it’s the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. The entire month of April is dedicated to the festival and brings in over 300,000 visitors to the small community. It’s a huge boost to the local economy, and, have I mentioned, tulips! Millions of tulips! What more could someone want?
The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is truly one of my favorite festivals throughout the year. There is no official festival location or headquarters. There are some permanent sites at Roozengaarde and Tulip Town, and some orchestrated activities including a parade, fun run and a weekend street fair. However, most of the festival is just go and find it! Crops rotate every year, so you head out into the valley, mostly between the towns of Mount Vernon and La Conner, and find the tulips. Don’t worry, with well over a million tulips, they are easy to find!
Visiting the surrounding towns is another big part of the fun that the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival brings. La Conner is where the majority of Tulip Festival events take place. It is a truly picturesque Pacific Northwest town chock-full of unique boutiques, art galleries, and fabulous places to eat. The Museum of Northwest Art, or MoNA as the locals call it, features wonderful artists, both local and from the region that is considered a must see for art lovers. Nell Thorn is a world class restaurant featuring local cuisine that everyone walks away from full and happy.
Anacortes is located on Fidalgo Island but just a hop and a skip over a bridge from La Conner. It boasts the ferry that will take you to the rest of the San Juan Islands, along with a thriving and quaint downtown area, known as Old Town to the locals. Old Town is known for it’s great pub scene, with a pubs per capita ratio that rivals towns in Ireland! Anacortes has plenty of it’s own festivals too, so if you miss it for Tulip Festival, you can always come back for the Arts Festival, or the Waterfront Festival, or Shipwreck Day, or the Wine Festival, or Bier on the Pier, or you get the idea.
Mount Vernon, is where you will most likely come through to get to La Conner and the tulips. Mount Vernon is a little more scattered, although there is a cute downtown area. One weekend they host a street fair for the Tulip Festival. If you’re a beer connoisseur there are many outstanding local breweries in Mount Vernon, including Skagit River Brewery, Farmstrong and North Sound Brewing.
Get your travel plans in place for next year! What’s your favorite part of the Tulip Festival?
robin rue says
Tulips are my favorite flowers and I would LOVE to go to this festival! It sounds like a wonderful thing to experience.
Erica says
SO into this! Anything that involves matching nature is just so perfect to me!
Kristina says
This is gorgeous! Tulips are so beautiful and I love that they come back each year. Makes me want to plant some this fall. This would be a fun festival to attend.
karen says
I am so super jealous. I adore tulips and would LOVE to be a part of this gorgeous festival! I can imagine that people really look forward to it, as your photos are stunning but to be there in person must be magical!
Jen says
This is amazing! I love tulips, they have always been my favorite flower (I have tulips tattooed on my back haha). Things like this are why I would love to live in the PNW.
Marcie in Mommyland says
Ack! We’ve gone to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival every year for 4 years and I’m so bummed that we missed it this year! It bloomed late and then we were traveling. Hoping to catch it next year. BTW love your red Hunter boots!
OvenStruck says
This sounds like my kind of festival! Here in the desert, we don’t see any of these. We have to travel to California.
Vera says
Definitely a festival I’d be interested in attending. These tulips look just beautiful!
Amanda Love says
I have never been the Skagit Valley’s Tulip festival and I sure would love to someday. I think it’s really beautiful out there and who would say no to seeing beautiful tulips all around you!
Elizabeth O. says
A Tulip festival is more than enough reason to travel to this beautiful place! I love it and it’s definitely worth seeing in person. Thanks for sharing what you did there and what places you visited!
jessi says
I have always thought tulips were so beautiful! It looks like you had an awesome day and a really fun time! PS those rain boots are adorable!
militaryfamof8 says
Wooooow! Those tulips are so beautiful! I always wanted to go in this kind of place, full of flowers. Wish i could go in this place someday.
Melissa says
The tulips look great and that festival is a great event. Your area really has a lot of interesting places to visit so someday I hope to get there.
daniella says
Wow this valley of tulips is amazing! I have never seen anything like it before, a whole valley of tulips! Gorgeous!
Blythe Alpern says
Tulips are my absolute favorite flower. How have I not been to this festival? It is like my flower dream come true and is definitely going on my bucket list.
Cindy Ingalls says
I’ve never been to a Tulip Festival, but it sounds and looks amazing. To see rows and rows of tulips, in all different colors, would be a trip worth taking.
Dwan - Travel Blogger says
Love your rain boots! We recently visited a tulip farm here local in Texas and it was beautiful. I can’t wait to visit another one.
reesa says
OH I cannot even control my jealousy over you getting to be at this beautiful place first hand! I love tulips and what a picture perfect place! Oh and I love your red boots!
Aish Das-Padihari says
I went to Seattle for a day and missed going to Skagit valley. But I’m going to Amsterdam next week and I’m sure I will enjoy some tulips there.
Nicole says
Such a picture perfect festival. We grew up wit the Pella Tulip Festival which is very Dutch centered. I love the rows of tulips there.
Brittany says
Wow it’s so pretty! We had something similar where I used to live and it was always the best for family photos and to see!
Tereza says
How absolutely gorgeous! It reminds me of the lavender field festival we have over here, it’s just stunning when all the flowers are in bloom! x
Roxanne says
We have a local tulip festival near me that is very popular. It’s just so breath taking to see so many colorful blooms at once!
Amanda Dorich says
Tulips are my favorite flower! What a fun festival and I love how your boots match the gorgeous blooms!
Jeanine says
This looks like a great time of year and the flowers look gorgeous! I love all the colors. I’d love to go see that!
Jalisa Harris says
Those colors look amazing. Tulips are always super simple and lovely and go with anything.
Rachel says
These flowers are gorgeous! I wish we had a beautiful field like that near us but we don’t have any!
Claire says
Love your red boots! Goes so well with the tulips. As weather gets warmer, I see more and more beautiful flowers!! Love the colors!
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Heather says
These are so beautiful! To be able to see flowers as far as the eye can see – so amazing! My daughter loves tulips, and just received some for her birthday!
Josie S says
This is so cool! I’m sure there is a festival out there for everything but this has to be one of the prettiest!!
Melissa @ Think About Such Things says
SO PRETTY! I wish I could have been there! I love flower festivals and shows. Those tulips are beautiful and I love the pictures you took of them!
katriza says
I would love to check this out ! not sure if my husband would be so excited but I’ve never been to any kind of festival like this! Totally adding this to my bucket list this year!
Jen says
This looks awesome! We want to get stationed in the PNW soooo bad! Maybe one day.
Jenna B says
This looks like so much fun. The flowers are beautiful. Also can we talk about the amazing hunter boots and how perfect they look in your pictures!