Skagit Valley Tulip Festival still going strong

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. – The overcast weather Saturday didn’t stop visitors from hundreds, and even thousands, of miles away from attending the second-to-last weekend of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

While the festival typically runs through April, both Tulip Town and RoozenGaarde will extend their hours for an additional weekend this year, staying open until May 7.

At Tulip Town on Saturday, families and friends took to the fields to snap selfies and to take in the rows of varied-colored flowers.

Pravallika Botcha of Houston brought her parents who were visiting from India to see the tulips for the first time.

Botcha said the tulips have been a different experience for her family.

Her mother, Rama Lakshmi Botcha, said she enjoys gardening and that was one of the reasons why she came.

“It’s the colors,” Rama Lakshmi Botcha said. “I like bright colors.”

As visitors walked through the rows of tulips, many stopped to pose for photos with the vibrant flowers.

For Samantha Luong and her friends Erica Wilkins and Amanda O’Neill, who visited from Bellingham, taking photos was the goal of their trip.

“It’s for the great pictures, it’s the season,” Luong said, laughing.

While visitors flocked to the fields, Burlington Kiwanis volunteers were busy directing traffic for parking.

Dale Rutan has been a Kiwanis member since 1972 and has volunteered during the Tulip Festival for more than a decade.

Rutan said he has met people from all over.

The longtime volunteer said his favorite part of being involved in the festival is greeting those who pass through.

There is an international feel to Tulip Town, with country flags from throughout the world flying in front of the Dutch-themed fields.

Kiwanis volunteer Dave Lolley said one of the great parts of helping out is hearing visitors speak different languages.

“I’ve never heard so many languages,” he said.

Co-owner of Tulip Town Jeannette DeGoede said this season has been pretty normal in terms of weather, resulting in the extra week.

“It’s the same as last year but instead of doing it in three weeks, we did it in five weeks because of the cooler season,” she said.

DeGoede said the festival is all dependent on the weather, and that the rainy season this year has been typical.

She said workers have already started topping the tulips at Tulip Town, but that the late-blooming tulips should be in full bloom the final week.

“It’s nice when it (the weather) is normal because people fly in from all over the United States, so normal is a very good situation,” she said.