The Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival began in 2004 and has become one of the most popular spring events in Utah County.
Spanning more than 50 acres, the festival requires year-round planning and preparation.
Thanksgiving Point has about 40 staff members maintaining the gardens and outdoor events, some of whom have been there since before the festival started.
Tony Latimer, the senior director of horticulture, has been with Thanksgiving Point since 2000.
“As the plants and the tulips come up, we're looking at them or looking at the ones that we like,” Latimer said. “We're looking at timing between different varieties, so we know if they'll be a good match to put together.”
Right after the festival ends, they put in their order for the next year, usually ordering around 500,000 new bulbs from the Netherlands.
“There's well over a million flowers, and then there's the flowering trees,” Latimer said. “Then we put in a lot of summer or winter annuals. So we'll have English daisies and poppies that will come up to enhance and help the tulips as well.”
They plant everything in the fall so the bulbs can sit under the snow during winter and be ready to bloom in the spring, which is when things can get a bit more unpredictable.
“There's a lot of different facets to my job that are challenging, but I feel like that's what makes it enjoyable too.” Kylie Thomas, garden manager, said.
Depending on the weather that year, the tulips will start to bloom at different times, sometimes putting the staff into stressful situations.
“This year's been a little tricky because it was such a warm, dry winter,” Thomas said. “So everything's coming up really early, and it's kind of flashing up really quickly.”
This year, the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival moved up its start date and recommends visiting early to see the flowers at peak bloom.
Visitors can enjoy features throughout the gardens, including a koi pond, statues, a secret garden, and more.
“There's kind of something everywhere, so you'll miss something no matter what unless you walk every single pathway,” Thomas said.
Tulip Festival tickets can be found here.