Mike Flory and Bonnie Branch take a selfie amid a sea of color on Wednesday, April 26, 2017, at Tulip Town near Mt. Vernon, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
Tourists take in the colorful sights of Washington tulip blooms on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, at Tulip Town near Mt. Vernon, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
Ruben Guzman laughs as he prepares to fly a kit with his girlfriend Vanessa Salcido on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, at Tulip Town near Mt. Vernon, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
Jeannette DeGoede laughs as she talks about founding Tulip Town and the joy tourists get when they visit her fields on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, near Mt. Vernon, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
XXXXXX snaps a photo in a RoozenGaarde tulip field on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, near Mt. Vernon, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
Workers top tulips as tourists mingle and snap photos at Tulip Town on Wednesday, April 26, 2017, near Mt. Vernon, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
Jane Royce, 7, right and her brother Jordan Royce, 8, jump up and down in a RoozenGaarde tulip field on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, near Mt. Vernon, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
Workers pick tulips on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, at Tulip Town near Mt. Vernon, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
Brent Roozen holds a tulip in his family's advanced flower processing facility on Wednesday, April 26, 2017, near Mt. Vernon, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
Worker Irma Angon, center lifts a bundle of tulips from one of RoozenGaarde's indoor growing bins to a crate for shipping on Wednesday, April 26, 2017, near Mt. Vernon, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
A bouquet of tulips lands on a conveyer belt at RoozenGaarde's tulip processing facility on Wednesday, April 26, 2017, at near Mt. Vernon, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
Scott Chang sorts through tulips grown on his family farm on Monday, April 24, 2017, at Pike Place Market in Seattle, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
For hundreds of years tulips have been packaged and transported around the world – a testament to people’s love for the colorful blossom. First domesticated in the Ottoman Empire, tulips quickly became a status symbol in the Ottoman royal court. In fact, the word tulip is derived from the word turban – a nod toward the visual similarity between the two.
The Skagit Valley’s roughly 450 acres of tulips represent 75 percent of U.S. commercial production. About 300,000 people visit the fields during the month-long annual tulip festival in April. Those tourists generate about $65 million in revenue for the county.