In Bloom: Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival kicks off with more flowers than ever before

LEHI, Utah (ABC4) — Today, the annual tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point began, giving visitors a first look at a variety of beautiful blooms.

Located at the Ashton Gardens, the festival will continue through May 17, featuring over 900,000 flowers, including Dutch tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, poppies, and more. According to a press release, this year’s sights will feature 100,000 more flowers, making it Thanksgiving Point’s largest event since it opened in 2004.

ABC4 met with a few festival-goers today who were excited to be there on opening day.

“It is so nicely put together,” said an attendee, Emily. “The architecture of this place is just gorgeous … Just the color arrangements of the flowers is really spot on. It’s gorgeous. It’s really fun to walk around and maybe take pictures.”

Another festival-goer, Nancy, said it was her first time at the festival, and it lived up to her expectations.

“I’ve never seen it, and I love tulips and my kids have been. So when they said, ‘Mom, come and go with us,’ I said, ‘Yes! I’ll be there,'” she said.

Thanksgiving Point says that planning for the tulip festival begins in the fall, adding that redesigning and planting for this year’s festival started in October. According to Thanksgiving Point, over 400,000 tulips were imported from Holland.

This year, the Tulip Festival will feature seven large topiaries in the shapes of butterflies, mushrooms, gnomes, and fairies, which will be up to nine feet tall.

The festival runs from 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Tickets can be bought online, running at $24 for adults during weekdays and $29 on weekends. Kids admission is $19 for weekdays and $24 for weekends.

Along with the Tulip Festival, you can check out a variety of classes, such as yoga, art, and floral design. There will also be tours at the festival, a 5k on April 26, and a new buffet brunch.