The Abbotsford Tulip Festival declared on January 25, 2021, that it was leaving the Lower Mainland and going to the Okanagan. So, the Abbotsford Tulip Festival is no longer happening. The Chilliwack Tulip Festival is still held, which is fantastic news (and it was the larger of the two events).
In 2020, the Abbotsford Tulip Festival was slated to last from April 14 through May 3. Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic forced its cancellation.
To view the more than 2.5 million blossoms and 40 distinct species of tulips that bloom over the course of the about one-month-long celebration each year, as many as 90,000 people used to make the trip out to the Fraser Valley.
Which tulip festival, Abbotsford or Chilliwack, is superior?
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The Chilliwack Tulip Festival is held in Chilliwack at 41310 Yale Road, just off the Trans-Canada Highway and adjacent to Exit #109.
If you’re coming from Vancouver, you’ll probably pass signs for the Abbotsford Tulip Festival on your way to the Chilliwack location. The festival in Abbotsford is also enjoyable, but it is a little bit more pricey and smaller. The Chilliwack Tulip Festival is only a further 10 to 15 minutes away.
Due to worries about the continuous spread of COVID-19, the Chilliwack Tulip Festival has been postponed for the 2020 season. Due to the epidemic, it only applied to residents of the Fraser Valley region in 2021.
The event takes place in 2022 from Monday, April 11 to Sunday, May 1. In 2022, business hours are 6:00 am to 6:00 pm on the weekends and 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on weekdays (with guests having to be out by 7:30). This year, anyone can attend the event; it is no longer just for Fraser Valley residents.
Depending on your age and when you purchase your tickets, entry to the attraction in 2022 will cost you between $7 and $25 as of early April.
Tickets for children aged 3 to 12 on weekends are $12 in advance and $17 on the day of the event. Seniors 65 and over and those with disabilities pay the same price for tickets. The price is $25 if you buy your tickets the day of your visit, and $20 if you buy them the day before or earlier for adults and children aged 13 and up.
The cost of admission is lower on weekdays. Tickets for seniors and kids between the ages of 3 and 12 are $7 in advance and $10 on the day of the event. Tickets for adults and teenagers are $13 if purchased the day before or earlier and $18 if bought the day of your visit.
For specific entry times in 2022, all tickets must be ordered online. Any tickets purchased before 8:00 p.m. on the day before you plan to go are eligible for the advanced pricing.
Numerous options to save money are often available during the Chilliwack Tulip Festival. There are frequently discounts for weekday season’s passes, full season’s passes, special photographer passes, and local’s day offers in addition to the discounts stated above for families, seniors, and individuals with disabilities. Sadly, not all of these passes will be accessible in 2022.
Weekday Season’s Pass
The Weekday Season’s Pass is valid from Monday through Friday during ordinary (non-sunrise) business hours when there isn’t a pandemic. Prior to taxes and online fees, the price was $25 for adults and $20 for children and seniors.
Weekday Season’s Passes, when offered, must be ordered online ahead of time; they cannot be purchased at the gate. These passes weren’t offered in 2021, and it looks like they won’t be in 2022 either.
Full Season’s Pass
The venue is accessible with a Full Season’s Pass seven days a week during the festival during regular business hours. In 2022, the price is $90 for all ages.
These passes, just like in previous years, must be ordered online ahead of time; they are not accessible at the gate.
Photographer All Access Pass
Photographer Last season, All Access Passes were priced at $65 for adults and $50 for seniors and youth (plus GST and online fees). In addition to usual festival hours, early entry to view the sunrise on weekends was also permitted. These could also only be bought online.
Unfortunately, as of the first of April in 2022, it doesn’t seem that these passes are accessible.
Locals’ Discounts
Anyone from Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Mission, Maple Ridge, or Langley with a permanent address might enter for for $10 on Tuesdays in 2022. Residents of Chilliwack, Agassiz, Harrison, Fraser Canyon, or Hope can also purchase admission for $10 at the gate on Thursdays. Just remember to bring identification showing that you reside in one of those places.
Prior to regular opening hours on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, Sunrise Openings offered guests a unique opportunity to observe the early morning sun rise over the tulip fields (assuming good weather).
Photographers have enough time to select the perfect locations for their shots during the Sunrise Openings because the venue opens roughly 30 minutes before sunrise.
Over the course of the month, dawn times change. At the start of April, sunrise in Chilliwack occurs about 6:30 in the morning. The sun begins rising as much as 40 minutes sooner by the end of the month! For precise times, please refer to the Chilliwack Sunrise Schedule. Please plan to come up to 30 minutes early.
Regardless of whether it is Early Bloom season or Full Bloom season, admission to the Sunrise Openings in previous years has cost roughly $20 (plus taxes and internet fees) in advance or $30 at the gate.
Information regarding Sunrise Openings in 2022 has not yet been made public as of early April. If this year’s special openings aren’t offered, hopefully they’ll be back next.
Sunrise Openings Tips
There are a few ideas to keep in mind when Sunrise Openings are accessible, which are listed below.
First, before you go, check the weather forecast. It is evident that there won’t be much of a sunrise if the sky is gloomy and the sun cannot break through.
TIP #2: Aim to arrive as soon to the start of the event as possible because you’ll need some extra time to find a decent place and prepare for unforeseen delays. Additionally, the morning light is spectacular even before the sun rises.
A few years ago, the Fraser Rotary Club Train cost $1 per person, with all earnings going to good causes. The Easter Long Weekend, however, also saw free rides, balloon animals, and face painting booths. The train only operated on weekends in 2019, and general entry prices covered the cost of riding it.
Several speciality display gardens, including a World Friendship tulip show, are also present at the festival most years. Additionally, there were displays honouring Canada 150 and Variety the Children’s Charity in 2018. There were mosaics of flowers in 2019, one of which included an Aboriginal face. Details for 2022 must be confirmed.
Other Things to Know
The additional helpful information included below will help you have the best possible time at the Chilliwack Tulip Festival.
- Leashed dogs are allowed.
- Parking is uncharged.
- The location is smoke-free.
- Every day, food trucks are present.
- On-site sales of cut and potted tulips are typically offered.
- Accessibility: Parking spaces for those with disabilities are scarce. Additionally, wheelchairs and walkers can pretty readily access the fields’ edge via the parking lot. Wheelchairs will probably be able to navigate some, but not all, of the bark-mulch routes around the field on dry days. However, the location is not advised for those who use wheelchairs, walkers, strollers with small wheels, or those who have mobility issues when it is raining.
More advice to help you get the most out of your time at the Chilliwack Tulip Festival is provided below.
TIP #1: If permitted this year, bring a picnic or, even better, sample some of the festival’s food truck delicacies.
Take sturdy walking shoes, but make sure they’re ones you don’t mind getting soiled. Wear boots if the weather is wet.
TIP #4: If you can, travel during the week. Weekend prices are marginally lower than weekday prices, and there are fewer people around.
TIP #5: Purchase a season pass if you intend to attend the Chilliwack Tulip Festival multiple times. The passes are a terrific deal for those who enjoy flowers and for those who frequently want to go with friends and out-of-town guests.
TIP #6: On the Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday of the Easter Long Weekend, the Easter Bunny typically makes sporadic appearances at the location. On certain days, there are frequently face painting and balloon animal stations as well (although maybe not in 2022).
TIP #7: The Fraser Valley often offers lower gas prices than Metro Vancouver. Consequently, while visiting Chilliwack, remember to top up your petrol tank.
TIP #8: The Chilliwack Sunflower Festival, which takes place in the late summer, is a must-see if you love flowers. It is held in the same location as the tulip festival and is run by the same people. It is stunning as well!
Having a tulip festival in Chilliwack is a wonderful idea. Tulip bulbs are grown by Onos Greenhouses in order to produce additional tulips, which are then sold throughout Western Canada and parts of the United States.
The festival allows the public to come view the tulips at their height rather than just growing them and then cutting them immediately for sale. The public will be treated to a visual feast, and the farmer and festival organisers will make more money. Everybody benefits from this!
Since 2006, there has been a Tulips of the Valley (now known as the Chilliwack Tulip Festival). After taking a year off in 2016, it resumed operations in 2017 at the new location where it is now.
How much are Tulip Town tickets?
To provide you the best possible tulip experience, Tulip Town will be opening earlier and staying open longer in addition to transitioning to online ticketing.
General Admission, Experience Pass, and Photography Pass are the three available passes. $15 for those aged 12 and over, $7 for those aged 6 to 11, and free for those under the age of 5. The cost of a fresh Anytime ticket has increased to $25. (one full day admission, not time reservation necessary).
The Tulip Bloom field, tulip gardens, indoor tulip exhibit, and barn experience are all included in the General Admission price, along with parking and a trolley trip. The $50 Experience pass includes everything in General Admission as well as a mini-workshop and escorted entrance into the field where you will be shown how to pick your own bouquet. It also comes with a mini-workshop and a concierge service. Along with a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, you’ll return home with your prized blooms and insider knowledge from the Tulip Town pros! The Photography Admission, last but not least, costs $100 for a day pass and $375 for a season pass. The tulip field and gardens are only accessible with a Photography Pass between the hours of sunrise and sunset and throughout regular business hours.
Which tulip festival is the biggest?
- Since 1986, the Bartlett Arboretum in Belle Plaine, Kansas, has hosted its annual Tulip Time Festival, which features arts and crafts, live music, a carnival, and other entertaining activities. The largest concentration of tulips ever planted in the United States was in Belle Plaine.
- The Dutch Days celebration in Fulton, Illinois, takes place on the first weekend in May. The neighbourhood Christian school hosted the inaugural “Authentic Dutch Dinner” in 1974.
- The annual Tulip Festival in Orange City, Iowa, which takes place on the third weekend in May, is cherished by the locals and include a flower exhibit, an evening production of a Broadway play, daytime and evening parades, and street dancing by both young and old. Over 150,000 people attend the celebration, which starts on Wednesday for the locals and runs through Saturday.
- The Tulip Time event, held in Pella, Iowa, also in early May, was started in 1935 to honour the town’s history. The three-day festival includes street cleaning parades, wooden shoe dancers dressed in costumes, wooden shoe carving demonstrations, poffertje vendors, and an old Dutch street organ.
- The largest tulip festival in the United States, the Tulip Time Festival in Holland, Michigan, takes place in early May and boasts more than 4.5 million tulips. More than 600,000 people attend each year.
The Holland Tulip Festival will last how long in 2021?
The festival is held where? The Tulip Time Festival does not take place in a single, guarded area. The majority of the events and activities take place within a 4-mile radius of Downtown Holland over the course of 8 days in May. Public parks and the streets in the city’s centre are free places to admire tulips.
No tickets are required to visit Holland, explore the area, or take in the sights. Even though the specific Tulip Time activities and events are over for 2022, there are still plenty of other things to do and see nearby.
Throughout the festival week and beyond, there are tulips and events at a lot of independent sites. Their own set of operation hours and admission conditions apply. Visit the Area Attractions page to learn more.
The fall of 2023 will see the announcement of information on shows and activities. Follow updates!
The best tulip festival is held where?
The Dutchest place on Earth is Holland, Michigan. The city, which is on Lake Michigan and is approximately a 3-hour drive from Detroit, annually hosts one of the biggest and most well-known tulip festivals in the country. Five million blossoming tulips that were planted by the Parks and Recreation Department all throughout the city are blooming during the eight-day festival known as Tulip Time, which also includes parades, concerts, art installations, and traditional Dutch dance performances.
What To Eat
Enjoy traditional Dutch foods like saucijzenbroodjes, or Dutch pigs in a blanket, and buttery krakelingen, which are sweets filled with almond paste. Both are offered by the nearby DeBoer Bakery.
Pro Tip
The busiest times of the week are usually the weekends. If you intend to travel at that time, make sure to reserve your lodging well in advance. See this article for additional details and advice.