Popular Abbotsford tulip festival moving to North Okanagan | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Popular Abbotsford tulip festival moving to North Okanagan

A popular Fraser Valley tulip festival has uprooted from Abbotsford and is slated to bloom again in the North Okanagan. The organizers of the Abbotsford Tulip Festival, Bloom, have relocated to Armstrong and are planning to bring the annual event with them.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/Abbotsford Tulip Festival

A popular Fraser Valley tulip festival has uprooted from Abbotsford and is slated to bloom again in the North Okanagan.

The organizers of the Abbotsford Tulip Festival, Bloom, have relocated to Armstrong and are planning to bring the annual event with them.

According to a media release, the Abbotsford tulip festival known as Bloom attracts up to 100,000 visitors a year over the six weeks from April to May to marvel at 2.5-million tulips in full technicolour bloom.

The festival started in 2016, but now the Szarek family who runs the festival have relocated to Armstrong, and are hoping to reignite Bloom again in the North Okanagan.

"It’s a bittersweet feeling to say goodbye to the incredible community that supported our vision for the last few years but we’re hopeful for the future of the event in our new community in the Northern Okanagan," Bloom founder Alexis Szarek said in a media release.

According to a media release, the 2020 festival was cancelled due to the pandemic which also put the future of the 2021 festival in jeopardy. Adding to the complications the land where the tulip festival had been held for the last four years was also sold to new owners.

In the meantime, Szarek and her family moved to Armstrong, where they now want to recreate Bloom for the North Okanagan.

While no dates have been set for Bloom in the North Okanagan the organizers say they will announce the date when the event has been finalized.

According to the release, the Abbotsford Tulips Festival employed dozens of staff and volunteers every year and had a significant impact on the local economy.

The tulip festival was widely reported in dozens of international publications and featured on the CBC TV show The Nature of Things with David Suzuki, the media release said.

"We want to thank all of our dedicated staff and volunteers who greatly contributed to our success in Abbotsford, as well as the many community stakeholders who helped us along the way," Szarek said in the release.


To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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