Chicago has certainly seen it's share of rainy days this Spring. But all that rain will soon give way to hundreds of thousands of tulips in Spring Grove.
The second annual Richardson Farm Tulip Festival is expected to begin Saturday, April 23, and continue through Mother’s Day weekend.
“We think we’ll have a half a million tulips blooming,” said George Richardson, of Richardson Farms. “We planted 300,000 bulbs in the fall of 2020 and 300,000 more in November 2021. It should really be a sight to see.”
In 2021, nearly 40,000 people visited the festival.
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Thirty varieties of tulip bulbs are planted, a press release from the farm says — everything from Apeldoorn’s Elite and Border Buddies Blend to Banja Luka, Jaap Groot and Snowboard.
The tulips are planted in a northwesterly field of the 500-acre farm, adjacent to a picnic area around Richardson Lake. Five acres were planted in 2020; five more in the fall of 2021.
Tulip fest hours will be 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. closed Mondays. Food trucks will be onsite daily during fest hours.
Admission is $12 Tuesday through Friday and $15 each on weekends. Those ages 3 and younger are admitted free.
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Each guest will receive one free tulip with each ticket purchased.
Dogs are welcome at the tulip festival, according to the website, as long as the they are on a leash and play well with others.
Guests are also able to shop; have a wine tasting and enjoy donuts, popcorn and kettle corn at the gift shop down the road from the tulip fields.
The festival is weather and flower-height dependent, so visitors should check richardsonfarm.com or Facebook before venturing out.
