Every year the sun shines, the snow melts and then flowers begin to bloom. This year was no different. Im not sure how I stumbled across this little flower festival, but Im glad I did!
The Abbotsford Tulip Festival attracts a good diverse crowd and with each passing year more and more of the younger generation are visiting as this festival is truly a social media paradise. The bright colours and long lines of flowers make for some pretty great shots to blast all over your Insta page.
You have a small window of opportunity to visit the festival, the 2018 season opened on April 9th and it only goes until May 13th. So if you are thinking of going, stop thinking and just go. The best time to visit is when the flowers are in full bloom. If you are trying to avoid crowds visit on a weekday or in low bloom.
Whats the difference?
Low Bloom : Is the early budding stages. You will see some colours, but majority is green buds.
High Bloom : This is when the fields come alive. The tulips are in bloom and colour is in the field.
The transition from low bloom to high bloom can literally happen over night, keep an eye on the website and book your tickets as soon as you can. Once the tulips have started blooming you can safely bet that they are in bloom for the remainder of the season.
Save yourself some money and buy tickets online before you go. To give you an idea of pricing an adult in high bloom on a weekend is $15 online, $19 online same day and $25 at the gate. Going on a week day you can save more money, going in low bloom you can save even more.
There are also other tickets available such as the 'magic hour' which gives you early morning access where you can capture the rising sun over the tulip fields.
Budding photographer? Or just love looking at great photography?
They run a completion each year for 5 categories where photographers can upload their images to Instagram and tag with the allocated hashtag.
Check out this years images #bloomsbest2018 there are some beauty's!
MY TIPS
Be courteous to the people around you, remember that some people are actually here to see the flowers bloom and arn't just trying to take a perfect photo for their social media account.
Remember that some people are just here to take photos and hopefully they will take them quickly and move on if you just give them some space to snap that perfect shot.
Go to the bathroom before you go - I hate North American portaloos! But for emergencies, there are plenty on hand.
A nice sunny sky makes for a lovely day out. But If you are trying to avoid the crowds pick a rainy day, not a weekend or head there in low bloom.
If you heading to the festival on a rainy day, take gum boots! The ground was quite slippery when we were there and we had sunny skies.
Visit the official website to find out more information and to purchase your tickets.
HAPPY SPRING!
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