It’s tulip time in the Willamette Valley

Published 1:45 pm Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Because 2024 is a leap year, the first official day of spring is listed as March 19, rather than the usual March 20 or 21.

That aside, March 22 is the date to pencil in on one’s calendar, for that is the first day of the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn. Festival organizers said the tulips appear to be arriving on time – leap year or no – and opportunities for visitors to experience millions of showy blooms will run through May 5.

In keeping with the planning advantages learned in recent years, all admission tickets will be available online only. Originally a pandemic adjustment, the advantages of online scheduling were quickly apparent in other realms, such as planning ahead and reduction of peak traffic headaches. For information or to order tickets, visit aftontickets.com/WoodenShoeTulipFestival.

Visitors can choose their preferred day, and there are season passes available as well.

This year marks the 40th annual Tulip Festival, and in keeping with tradition many of the same attractions will be featured, such as the hot air ballons, locally produced beverages and drones.

Family-owned Portland Rose Balloons out of Aurora will be handling the hot-air balloons, featuring both free-flying rides and tethered rides.

“We’ve been flying from the festival to start our flying season for over 10 years,” said Portland Rose proprietor Chris Hancock. “Our free-flying rides meet and fly right at sunrise, and we go for an amazing 45 minutes to 1-hour flights from the tulip fields. You can get great photos of the tulips as we take off, and we are usually able to fly over the fields in bloom.

“It’s a really cool experience and we can reach heights of up to 2000-3000 feet during a flight.” Flights cost $250 per person, $200 for children under age 12, and the experience takes about 3 hours in total, accounting for balloon inflation, flight time, balloon deflation and transportation back to the tulip festival.

The tethered flights are considerably more relaxed, much less time consuming, rise up some 50 to 75 feet and easier on the pocketbook: tethered flights are $20 for adults and $10 for children under age 12. Reservations are not required for these flights. Visit PortlandRoseBalloons.com for information.

Beverages

While the Hancock family’s balloons have been regular features, the 2024 festival’s designated brewers are relative newcomers.

Aurora-based Vision proprietors Mitch Puga and Willie McIntire have been brewing beers and ciders for several years, but they have been doing it in earnest as a business for just about a year. So, when they bring their local flavor to Wooden Shoe this year, it will be their first major showcasing – and they are looking forward to it.

Beverage aficionados who have visited FOB Taproom near KFC in Canby may have tasted Vision’s crafts. They are also found in about 50 scattered locations around the state, one of which is Donald Tavern. But for most of the thousands of visitors to Wooden Shoe this festival season, this will be the first opportunity to try a Vision brew.

“We do quite a range of beverages, so we want to make sure that we have something for everyone,” Puga said.

The Vision brewers are coming up with a special blonde ale for the festival – so new they had yet to name it by the first week in March. They will also be bringing their signature single-hop IPA, along with a handful of cider options: mango, lime coconut, blood-orange strawberry and peach. The latter is their signature cider as their Vision Brewing Company is physically situated on a peach orchard.

More local flavor will pour from the Cascade Foothills Winegrowers is a collective of 12 family-run wineries situated in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains of northwestern Oregon – from Oregon City to the north down through Silverton and its general Pudding River regions.

More: woodenshoe.com/events/tulip-fest.