Welcome to the 38th Anniversary of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Welcome to the 38th Annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival! Tulip Festival!

Join us in celebrating the kickoff of the 2021 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival on April 1 from 6 p.m. - 6:30 pm at the Judd & Black Appliance/Peoples Bank 2021 Gala Celebration. This year’s event will be a virtual party, including a live performance by The Joan Penney Jazz Quartet, an update from our tulip growers, themed party favors, a silent auction, and delicious treats! Said festival President Cindy Verge, “We wanted to have something going on the first of April and we’re really excited to have local jazz singer Joan Penney sing. She has put together an exciting line-up, kicking her set off with “We Must Believe in Spring.” We hope you will join us and support our silent auction. We are working very hard to be here for 2022 and fundraising is an important part of that.”

Said Verge, “We are looking forward to a beautiful tulip season in the Skagit Valley. We hope that you walk through a tulip field, go to one of our gardens and enjoy our festival events and activities. We are so happy to be able to have people come to the Skagit Valley in 2021 even though Covid-19 regulations and restrictions will be in place. The festival will be a little different so we appreciate your patience and enthusiasm for the tulips of the Skagit Valley. We want everybody to stay safe and to enjoy their visit.”

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The Tulip Festival traditionally depends on hundreds of donated hours from students and other community members and sponsorship money from more than 200 local businesses and organizations. This year we have a volunteer handing out posters and brochures and local media continues to play a big role in advertising the festival, including Skagit Publishing that doubles as a sponsor. Said Verge, “Because of Covid-19 and limited space inside our office, we haven’t been able to have as many volunteers helping as normal, but we are hopeful that we can have our core volunteer and paid staff working in our office during April, 2021 to get information out to tulip fans by answering your questions and phone calls as we can. We will be encouraging people to visit our website and Facebook page for updated information. Brochures and maps will be located outside of the office for easy pick up and we will be offering curbside pick-up of festival merchandise ordered through our website.”

Facebook Photo Contest

Get your camera and participate in our annual Facebook Photo Contest, presented by North Coast Credit Union. Check www.Facebook.com/ SkagitValleyTulipFestival for entry details, weekly finalists and the winning photos. Submit your photos (one per week during April) and our committee will choose weekly finalists and announce the winners in various categories at the end of the festival. We are adding a new, fourth category this year: Tulips

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Contents

3 Welcome to the 38th Anniversary of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival! 7 Tulip Field Map 15 2021 Official Poster & Artist 16 Mount Vernon Downtown Association Tulip Festival Street Fair 18 Tulip Festival Suppliers 22 Tulip Festival Events 28 Economic Boost to County 30 2021 Key Bank Tulip Ambassadors 31 Tips on Touring the Festival

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in Your Backyard. The winning photographers will receive a signed 2021 poster and have their photo published in the festival brochure in 2022.

Tulip Festival History

The mission of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is to coordinate and promote a countywide spring celebration of the tulip bloom, in commemoration of the valley’s annual tulip harvest, and to be an advocate for Skagit Valley agriculture. In the early 1980s, then Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce directors Jerry Digerness and Joan Houchen recognized that thousands of people were coming to visit the tulips of Skagit Valley. They decided to form the official Tulip Festival and created a weekend of events and festivities meant to entice and enhance visitors’ trips to the area during the month of April. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival was officially inaugurated by the chamber in 1984 and was run through that office until 1994 when the festival became its own entity. In 2002, separation from the chamber was completed when the organization moved to its own offices.

Over the decades the festival has grown in length. The event began as a three-day weekend; jumped to 10 days, then 17 and has been a full 30 days since 2003. With the unpredictability of the weather, the full 30 days means that the tulips have a greater chance of blooming during the festival.

Cindy Verge has been working for the Tulip Festival since 1999 and has been its executive