Wooden Shoe Tulip Fest opens on Friday - 1 week early

Woodburn, Ore. — (KGW News) The Wooden Shoe Tulip Fest will open one week ahead of schedule this year, due to warm weather encouraging the blossoms.

“Tulips are coming whether we want it or not,” owner Barb Iverson said. “We are irrigating the crops. Stems are blooming short, so we water to lengthen the stems. Even our pots are extremely dry this year.”

“Watering the field right now is highly unusual,” Iverson added. “It’s been an odd year, but portions of the field are beautiful.”

The festival, which has been an icon of the Willamette Valley for 31 years, features rainbows of color across 40 acres of fields.

“Each field is a unique, different perspective,” Iverson said. “We have a path halfway down the field that dissects the field. There is a great view across the field of Mount Hood. You have to get down in the field to appreciate it.”