Illinois' popular tulip festival at a farm in the Chicago area is expected to stay open longer than anticipated, the owners of Richardson Farm told NBC 5 Friday.
The Richardson Tulip Festival in Spring Grove at Richardson Farm first opened to the public last week, with hundreds of thousands of tulips in bloom as owners anticipate a total of one million flowers to sprout. The festival was expected to stay open through at least May 7, but owners revealed they now plan to stay open through May 14.
"Walking through our tulip fields [Friday], I estimate at least 80,000 tulips that have not even begun to show color, so they will pop out by this coming Sunday or Monday, or Tuesday, depending on what the temperatures actually get to," George Richardson told NBC 5 in an email. "They will be pristine for the next week. Then around 4-500,000 have just opened up the past few days and will be very good up to May 14."
The first 300,000 tulips that bloomed earlier during the festival will likely start "dwindling" by May 7, Richardson said.
Despite their plans, Richardson urged those looking to visit the farm to check their website "before you drive out to make sure the tulip fields are still open."
According to Richardson, the farm worked to plant 300,000 tulip bulbs in November, adding to the years of flowers returning from previous plantings, leading to a "treasure trove" of an estimated one million tulips for the season.

The farm offers more than 60 varieties of tulips, planting enough tulips to fill 12 football fields on the 500-acre farm located at 909 English Prairie Rd. in Spring Grove.
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Cost for those 4 and up is $16, including one free tulip per paid admission, on week days. On Saturdays and Sundays, cost is $16 for ages 4 to 12 and $19 for ages 13 and older, with one free tulip per paid admission. Additional flowers may be purchased for $2 a stem.
Children 3 and younger are free.