Tulip Festival

This last Friday we decided to make a trip out to Woodburn for the Tulip Festival. We’d never been there before, but $5 a carload ($10 for the weekend) seemed extremely reasonable for some spring family fun.

When we arrived, we were greeted with friendly staff and were given several brochures/guides about the different kinds of tulips and what events were going on. We were lucky we picked a time that was perfect weather wise and didn’t have to deal with any mud. There were plenty of easy-to-find and very clean portable toilets near the parking area, which we were grateful for after the long trip out and Bug having just woken up from her nap when we arrived.

There is a sort of main area where there’s some food from Mt. Angel Sausage Company and some booths as well as play areas for kids. I was very pleased to see how exceptionally clean the area was and was very happy that it was grassy and not just dirt or concrete to walk on. All areas were very stroller friendly. There were picnic tables, horse tire swings, tunnels for kids to climb through and it looked like they were setting up a large slide and rock climbing area as well. They also have a large garden area and a gift shop too.

The horse tire swings were a huge hit with dd. Actually, she didn’t want to do anything but ride them so we didn’t really even get to see the tulips. She thought about riding one of their little kiddie trams that are shaped as either wooden shoes or cows, but after we paid twice (they charge $2 per person, but one of the staff only charged us $2 total since we’d only technically be taking up 1 of the carts) she changed her mind both times (we were refunded thankfully) and was happier just waving at the people going by. In the end, I was actually relieved that she decided against it because I saw many adults being tossed to and fro on the bumpy ride and saw a teen smack her knees pretty hard on the inside of a wooden shoe when they went over a big bump.

The tulips, from what we could see from the horse swings, were beautiful. We were told that they were a bit behind schedule because of the weather and would be blooming even more this upcoming week so if you get the chance I highly recommend making the trek out!