Behind the Scenes: Tulip Day NYC

Ever seen the mesmerizing displays of a Tulip Day? You’ll find these tulip festivals in urban settings at the opening of tulip season in the Netherlands, close to International Women’s Day in San Francisco, and (now) in New York City in early April.

Tulip Day (a joint project different players in the bulb and cut flower industries) is a surprising display of tulip beauty in an unexpected place: a public square.

Tulip Day is traditionally a free event for the public, wherein tulips are grown in hydroponic trays ahead of time, transported to the event location, and arranged into an incredible display of color and pattern. Visitors enter the “garden” and pick tulips to take home and enjoy. It’s a one-day “u-pick” flower farm in the middle of a city. The aim is to bolster interest and excitement in cut flowers and support the coordination of bulb growers/distributors and the flower farms that produce flowers.

Tulip Day NYC was sponsored by the Consulate General of The Netherlands in NYC and the European Union. The flowers were grown by two farms - Bloomia in Virginia and Holland Ridge Farms in New Jersey. Both are significant players in tulip production in the US, offering wholesale cut flowers to many outlets. Tulip lovers can visit the annual on farm U-pick at Holland Ridge Farms for several weeks in the spring, when 8 million tulips are in full bloom, ready for eager guests to photograph and pick.

How does it work?

Reliable and experienced tulip forcing operations are selected to take on the challenge of perfectly timing a high volume of tulips to bloom on command for the event. Using calculated methods and knowledge of the specific varieties they’ve been charged with growing (in addition to the ability to make adjustments when environmental changes come up) these growers undertake the biggest burden of work. They spend weeks planting and preparing and dedicating large spaces at their farms to the preparation of the bulbs and the growing of the flowers in the months and weeks leading up to the event.

On the day before the event, temporary barricades are delivered to help with crowd control and logistics. A que must be set up to allow for a safe number of people to process through the garden.

In the early morning, marketing signage is hung on the barricade fences and tall flags are set up to denote entrances, exits, and media/VIP services. Volunteers arrive and don bright jackets that identify them as such. Trucks transport the trays of blooming tulips from the farms to the square. It’s important that load bars and tie down points are utilized in the trucks to prevent the spilling of the planted tulips along the route. Rolling racks with rimmed shelves holding the trays of grown tulips are brought down off the trucks using loading ramps.

An event coordinator with a bull horn and a map of the design directs volunteers to place crates of different varieties of tulips according to plan. Some volunteers scurry around and reset tulips that have slipped or toppled in transit. Portable sanitation units are delivered and set near exits. Waste cans are set near exits and in high traffic areas at the edge of the display. Green waste collection bins should also be available to encourage guests to discard their stripped leaves and bulbs responsibly, rather than on the ground or in the trash.

As finishing touches are being made, a limited number of press pass holders and social media influencers are granted access to the tulip “field” ahead of the public to capture the scene and help promote the event. Press have a chance to interview some of the event stakeholders.

Once everything is in place, an opening ceremony invites a representative from NY and The Netherlands to present a newly named tulip variety in honor of the day and 400 year connection between the two countries. A stage with a sound system is an important part of the presentation - most guests are trying to listen from the que a distance from the ceremony itself and the noises of city life make it difficult to hear what’s happening on stage.

Depending on the location, visitors may be offered free ticket reservations online, or invited to show up and enter on a first come, first served basis. The NYC event employed a QR code ticket system with volunteers scanning guest tickets for entry to the que. A second set of volunteers regulated flow through the line and entrance to the final, shorter line. And a third set gave a paper sack printed with the event logo to each visitor as they entered. Damp bulbs and roots meant that many of these sacks disintegrated. A thicker hardware sack could be used to help guests hold on to their blooms easier. It was necessary to re-evaluate the movement of the que and add a second ticket scanning entrance and two more volunteers part way through the event.

Most guests, while excited to participate, had no idea what to do with tulips that came on the bulb. Many thought, incorrectly, that they could plant them as they were, in full bloom. In reality, the tulips are intended to be cut from the bulb and enjoyed in home in a vase. The bulbs can be planted, but it is unlikely that they will thrive in future seasons. Tulips are not reliable perennials. Volunteers can be helpful in answering questions and offering advice, and should be briefed ahead of the arrival of guests so that a consistent message is shared.

As the day wears on, volunteers are tasked with freshening up the crates of tulips as the crowd discards stems, or topples them and eventually empties them. Volunteers consolidate trays and shrink the display as the day wears on. Eventually a mess of stripped foliage and damaged stems are all that remain and the organic waste from the event must be collected for composting.

The hydroponic trays are collected, sorted, and stacked. They are property of the farms that grew the flowers and must be loaded back on to the trucks after the crowd has dispersed. Banners, signs, and flags are collected. The square must be swept and trash discarded. The temporary metal barricades are consolidated and organized for pick up.

The New York City (Union Square) event included 200,000 tulips in bloom and over 70 volunteers from the US farms and their partners in The Netherlands and also some local members of the public who were invited to help through the Consulate General.

Tulip Days are full and long. But the smiles on the guests faces and the pure joy and beauty of the events make them well worth the effort of all the organizers and volunteers.

Interested in organizing a tulip festival or celebration for your city? Let’s connect and see if some of our wholesale grower customers or partners may be able to join in the development of your project. Please use our general Contact Form.