There’s something about tulip fields that just looks so magical. I love all types of gardens, but tulip fields have such a distinct look. And maybe it’s that OCD in me, but I love how organized the rows and rows of tulips grow and those perfect leading lines of vibrant and sturdy blooms that make them so extraordinary. Even the leaves don’t grow wildly. They’re like perfect ladies, all prim and proper.

Visiting big tulip fields was an item on my bucket list, but Holland is pretty far from California, so I was delighted to find that there were options in the U.S. and on my side of the country to check out! That’s not to say one day I don’t want to visit Holland, though! (I just don’t want to pay for that flight right now… :D)

Originally, I wanted to check out the tulips in Washington, which are in Skagit Valley– a little over an hour outside Seattle. But I’ve been to Seattle twice in the last 5 years, (although the trips were not that long) and I wanted to check out a new city!

Portland had been on my radar for a few years now and when $54 Southwest Airlines Portland flights on a Wednesday popped up, I decided to extend a weekend into a 5-day trip so we had ample time to drive to tulip fields outside Portland, chase some waterfalls, AND explore the city!

After our visit, I concluded that we went a little too early in the season, but it’s hard to gauge when the best time to go is prior to the season, and I probably couldn’t re-book those flights at $54 on Wednesday.  The festival is still going on until this weekend (May 6), and while the fields are fading now, the colors are still there!

Read on if you want more details on visiting the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm at sunrise and my tips for how I’d do it again! Or start planning for next year! 😉

As always, here’s your quick links menu below. Simply hit “Back to top” if you want to come back to this list after you finish reading a section!

• Basic Overview of Details
• Which Ticket to Buy
• Is the Sunrise Photography Pass Worth it?
• Best Time to See Tulips
• What to Bring and How to Dress
• Admission Inclusions
• Hot Air Balloons
• Other Nearby Attractions to Woodburn, Oregon
• Other Tips for Visiting Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival

Basic Overview: Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival

What:
Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival
–40 acres of tulip fields
https://www.woodenshoe.com/
Where:
Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm
33814 S. Meridian Rd., Woodburn, OR 97071*
503-634-2243
*45 minutes from Portland, 30 minutes from Salem
When:
For 2018: March 24 – May 6*
9:00am-6:00pm daily

*Travel Pearl: The dates of the tulip festival change yearly depending on the weather and bloom. When I booked, the festival only ran until April 30, but upon checking after we went, they actually extended it out into May. Generally speaking, tulips bloom during the month of April, which is when the festival will run, give or take a few weeks in late March or early May.

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Which Ticket Should I Buy for Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival 2018?

• There’s no simple answer to the question above; it depends on your needs. But I think if you live in Oregon and will go more than once, the season pass is totally worth it. If you are debating the sunrise photography pass, skip to the next section.
• Tickets are available for purchase online or at the gate, but I recommend pre-purchasing online if you can because the line to get in gets pretty backed up if people are purchasing at the gate, and even for sunrise, it was not a quick process to get in. I have read that on weekends, the line to get in can get backed up for half an hour or more.
• Parking is included in all tickets.
• I compiled the Eventbrite Prices as follows in the chart below:

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Is the Sunrise Photography Pass Worth It?

Yes and no.

First off, if we’re talking about the Pass, as in the Season Pass for $40 for the entire tulip festival season, then it’s a very obvious YES. You get unlimited entry for your WHOLE CAR and can stay for sunrise AND sunset, which maybe hours before or after the farm is open for that gorgeous golden hour. Since the weather and tulip blooming season is unpredictable, then this is a great pass to have so you can come back multiple times to see the fields progressing and opt for a nicer day/weather conditions to return if you want to capture that perfect shot.

But that being said, you should visit with at least more than two people OR at least twice to make the season pass worth your while. Unless you are more local or coming with a big car of people, this won’t be worth it.

Now for the Sunrise Individual Admission for $15/person, this is a little more pricey for two people going for one time (which is what we did). For one thing, hopefully, you have a great day you’re going when you can actually see the sunrise. And two, it can be REALLY COLD an hour prior to sunrise! And there’s still a lot of serious photographers who come out to take their photographs.

I’m trying to emphasize this “really cold” deal here, because it’s no joke. I could not feel my fingers or face and it’s hard taking pictures when you’re this cold and don’t have the energy/heat to even more your finger on the shutter button. And the rain and mud. That’s no joke either! You can see how dressed up my husband is compare to me below here… =X

We got lucky that in the 5 days we were in Portland, there was ONE clear day when the sun came out and it also happened to be on a MONDAY, so there were less crowds/traffic going to the festival. Sunrise around this time of the year for the tulip festival is about 6:30am, so you can enter at 5:30am. We did have to get up a little after 4am so we could get ready to leave Portland and drive down by 4:45am. We didn’t leave until 5:10am due to unlucky police activity downtown that hindered our car from being accessed!

But because of the cold and the extremely wet mud, it made sunrise photography quite miserable that we didn’t even want to stay that long after to enjoy everything else! We did also have a hike we were trying to make time for, so I did only plan to stay as late as 9am, but the entrance fee was a little steep to pay for that short amount of time. The upside is that we did get some pretty shots and less people were there! But a good amount of avid photographers do make it a thing to show up, especially the season pass holders who can take advantage of a nice day.

 

Travel Pearl: I’d recommend if you don’t seriously need these sunrise photos to come just at regular admission time on a week day to avoid some crowds and the cold 5:30am Portland air. The $5 admission fee per person or $20 per car is way more worth it then! OR, you can do 3 or more people with a Season Pass for sunrise and that will be worth it too!

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When is the Best Time to see Tulips at Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival?

Tulips like cold climate. That’s why they grow well in Holland and places like Portland and Seattle which tend to be more cool. If the weather is cool (between 40-55 degrees), blooms can last 1-2 weeks. However, if the weather starts warming up too much (>70 degrees), they will start wilting a lot sooner and you may only have a few days. That being said, the farm seems to have a variety of early bloom and later blooming tulips.

The trick is to catch the tulips in their peak 1-2 weeks of bloom and going too early in the season might not have enough full blooms, but going too late, most of the flowers could be done. The sweet spot is hard to catch, especially if you’re limited in time to go and also trying to avoid the rain, which April showers still are a very real thing in Portland.

I would recommend coming about mid April (2nd and 3rd weeks of April), not only because it seems more of the fields are in bloom then but also because the weather tends to be nicer in Portland later in April, per friends who live in Portland. (Well, actually they said May was better than April, but I think that would be too late and the tulips would be wilted.) And if you have longer than a weekend, you can play by ear which day to visit the farms when the weather might be a little nicer. We went on April 9, 2018 for reference.

Travel Pearl: The BEST WAY to know when to go to Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival is to look up their daily Field Report. This will give you an idea what the fields currently look like, so you can decide if it’s a good time to go. But of course if you’re coming from out of town, you may just have to wing it!

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What Should I Bring and How Should I Dress for the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival?

This seems like a silly question or topic to bring up, but I did think a little about how to dress and what to bring. I knew I wanted to take a few pretty portraits in the tulip fields, but I had heard that the fields get really muddy and wondered how I could look stylish, yet not get my clothes and shoes too dirty. Oh yes, and if I could stay warm in the meanwhile, more bonus points to me.

Keeping warm was not easy during sunrise, and I had to just brave the cold for a bit. If it rains quite a bit prior to when you go, the fields will be very muddy. When I went, the fields were muddy to the point that my shoes would sometimes get stuck in the mud and it was very difficult to walk fast at all, especially with camera gear! And if it’s that muddy, the other problem is that you won’t really have anywhere to set down your stuff without it getting muddy.

So I have a few tips on what to bring that might make your trip a little nicer:

• Rain boots or boots that can handle mud: My super sweet coworker insisted on me borrowing her brand new boots that she had originally planned to take to Iceland. These Pajar Women’s Snowcap Boots were so warm and comfy to walk in (and breathable) that I almost want to buy a pair for myself now! They had excellent grip in the mud, and even had extra cleats you could flip onto the soles for even more slippery conditions! They were short enough that I was also able to hide them amongst the tulips and you couldn’t tell I was wearing boots at times. And the mud washed off quite easily afterwards 🙂 See said boots in picture below.
  
• Plastic bags: This is for storing your muddy boots so your car won’t get dirty on your return trip home.
• Extra pair of shoes: This is also for the trip home to change into once you store away your muddy shoes.
• Plastic tarp or something similar: Since there’s nowhere to put down your items, if you mind things getting muddy, it’ll be nice to have a place to set them down if the ground is wet and muddy. There are a few benches where you can try to use, (see picture below) but obviously they are not portable. There’s also a lot of condensation in the morning so you will also want to keep your camera equipment dry.
  
• Hand warmers: No joke, if you go for sunrise, you will really be thankful to have these hand warmer babies! We used the brand I liked for the more environmentally friendly materials. When your hands get cold, it’s hard to feel your shutter or adjust your camera, so I highly recommend having some of these around!
• Camera equipment: Duh. We also hung items like bags and backpacks from the tripod, so you could forego a tarp if you do this, but it is still kind of cumbersome to hang instead of setting something down.
  • We shot with our new Canon EOS Rebel t6i, iPhone 6S, and GoPro Hero 4 Silver

As for how to dress, I think to each their own. If you want that perfect, dreamy Instagram shot, you might want a nice flowy dress, but I opted out of a maxi dress because I anticipated a lot of mud prior to the trip. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t like trudging long dresses in the mud!

I’m also very accident prone, so I’d probably trip and fall over a long dress, too… 😛 But I think this short white dress was “flowy” enough and I didn’t have to worry about it dragging in the mud. I did anticipate being very cold, though. And I was not wrong!

I think a cute top and jeans with a nice coat would also be just fine. Personally, I also think a solid color stands out more amongst the fields of tulips. Oh, and in case I haven’t made it super clear yet, it’s cold in the morning. So dress warm! If you come later in the day, you might not have to worry so much, but for sunrise, definitely plan to have layers and mentally prepare to brave the cold if you want to show some skin. My husband does not get cold easily, but he was definitely bundled up here!

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What does Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival Admission Include?

As an adult, I’ll be honest that my only real interest here was to see the tulips and play with my camera. But this can be a fun place to take your kids, and I know if I had kids, I wouldn’t mind bringing them here to play for a day! With tram rides, pony rides (weekends), bouncy houses (for a fee), balloon artists (weekends), it can be a fun family place. And if your kids are driving you nuts, there is even a wine tasting room! 😉 The Wine Wagon tours ($45) look pretty fun for adult visitors too!

I could regurgitate all the information on their website, but since we did not stay for all the “activities” and  I think they do a pretty good job of breaking it down on their site, I’ll just link it here:  https://www.woodenshoe.com/events/tulip-fest/activities/

And below is a map of the tulip farm and brochure they give everyone upon entrance.

Do note that the weekend includes more activities and demonstration, with a few fee activities too. So even though weekends are more crowded, there is more stuff to do as well–including the hot air balloons! From the 2018 calendar, there were even Easter Egg Hunts and ALPACA meet and greets on two separate days! Man, I wish we had gotten to see the alpacas!

Lastly, there are also other events that go on like the Tulip Trail Run (5k and 10k) Muddy Paws Fun Run/Walk (3k and 5k) with dogs. Check their events page to see what is available! The proceeds from these go towards various fundraisers like schools and pet rescue centers, which I think are pretty awesome! Just be careful to keep your pups close by as tulip bulbs are poisonous to dogs!

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Hot Air Balloons at the Tulip Fields

Supposedly, hot air balloon rides–both full flights and tethered rides– are only available on the weekends. It is weather dependent, since there can be lots of rain and wind like the weekend prior to us coming to Portland.  The tethered rides cost $15 for 12 years and up, $10 for under 12 years.

You can call to see if they will be planning to be there by calling the Hot Air Balloon hotline on the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm website: 503-877-4693 

The website also has contacts of at least 5 other balloonist or companies that might fly that weekend and the farm tries to update their Facebook page if they know of balloonist coming out that weekend: http://www.facebook.com/woodenshoetulipfarm

 

Travel Pearl: Though they advertise hot air balloons on the weekends, we went on a Monday and got very lucky that they flew hot air balloons that morning too! I think if it has been long stretches of rain and you get a reprieve, the balloons will come out, so not to fear if you can’t make it on a weekend. There might be a chance you get to see the hot air balloons which look pretty cool in that background of your pictures!

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Other Nearby Attractions to Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm in Woodburn, Oregon

To be honest, I didn’t see a lot of nearby things to do in Woodburn except for the Woodburn Premium Outlets. We didn’t go here, but hey, no sales tax in Oregon, so maybe you want to check it out after your tulip gazing!

If you haven’t had enough of flowers and farms, you can check out Bauman’s Farm and Garden, just a little further south of Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm where they also have a garden, produce, bakery, and petting zoo.

If you’re into architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright has one design in Oregon in Silverton, also a little further south of Woodburn, called he Gordon House. I’m no architecture buff, but I have seen his Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, and it was quite a feat!

And this one I wish we had known about prior to going, but just a little Southeast of Wooden Shoe (7-8 miles on Google Maps), there is a ranch with Alpacas at Marquam Hill Ranch! These alpacas do make an appearance sometimes at the tulip festival too, but if they’re not there on the day you go, you can also stop by in Molalla to see them! Supposedly you can take a ranch tour and interact with the alpacas, but I can’t see on their website how much it is or more details. (Maybe I didn’t look hard enough…) They do have gift shops with clothing and accessories make from alpaca fiber!

Even cooler, I think is the ALPACA YOGA. Seriously, what?! I couldn’t find too much info on the website minus a video, but I found a different article saying last year (2017) they had Monday night Yoga in the Alpaca fields where they kind of roam around you and then afterwards you get to play with them and drink wine. Sounds slightly weird but also slightly cool and awesome for $15 a person. Not sure about the 2018 schedule, but I’d call or email them to inquire if you’re interested! Seemed like last year’s schedule was May through September!

Marquam Hill Ranch
Phone: (503) 407-3699
Email: jennifer@mhralpacas.com

We really wanted to check out Silver Falls State Park after the Tulip Farm, per recommendation from an Oregon photographer I adore (Melissa of Roux Roamer), so we brought along our hiking shoes and chased some spectacular waterfalls afterwards!

We stopped in Silverton to get some breakfast at a small cafe and then continued our drive south. The drive is about another 40-45 minutes south for 24-26 miles, depending which road you take. A lot of these small towns you pass through are farm land but it’s quite a picturesque drive! You can easily spend as little or as long of a time at this state park as you want, and I’ll be blogging about it next, as it was another highlight of my Portland trip! Stay tuned!

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Other Tips

• Don’t wear a neon yellow vest. And if you’re going to wear one, don’t stand way out in the fields in front of everyone. You’ll just piss off all the other photographers!
• Get there early to stake your spot, as it can get crowded and filled with photographers. People take this seriously. They even bring their instafamous dogs! 🙂
  
• Camera batteries die faster in the cold weather. Bring extras. We hadn’t bought any extras as we just got the new camera so I was a little bummed we had to save camera juice for waterfall long exposures later in the day.
• I suggest trying to use a GoPro for a sunrise time lapse! It looked pretty cool on mine 🙂 The only problem was I also drained its battery, so have backups!
• If you CAN, try NOT to go right after big rains. The mud really does make it hard to trudge around in and half the time I really didn’t want to move to a new location to shoot. However, you might be able to get some cool puddle reflection shots!
• There are THREE TRACTORS on the farm: green, pink, and brown–so look for these if you want a shot with them!
• And one last time–hand warmers. These helped a whole lot!

Happy travels, and if you liked this post, please help me pin it! 🙂 Thanks!

xoxo,
Jas

P.S. I found Local Adventurer’s post to also be very helpful and comprehensive if I missed anything here!

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