Tulip Festival dazzles in Spring Grove

SPRING GROVE, Ill. - A stunning display of spring flowers is on display at the fourth annual Tulip Festival at Richardson Farm in Spring Grove.

The festival features 10 acres of colorful tulips with two dozen varieties, plus 50,000 daffodils.

An estimated one million blooms are expected before it is all over, and they expect thousands of visitors.

"Aren't these colors spectacular?" asked George Richardson, who operates the farm. "We've got some glow-in-the-dark red ones that are just amazing this year. There's some yellow and yellow-whites mixed together, and then we've got some blocks with all kinds of colors mixed together, just phenomenal."

But when it comes to tulips, time is of the essence.

"Tulips are kind of a short-season flower, so it depends on the weather. They like 50 degrees. So when it gets warmer than that, they're going to finish their process a little earlier. I know we're good through at least May 5th," Richardson said.

The one-time pig farm transitioned to a Christmas tree farm, then added sunflowers, and a corn maze in the fall and the Tulip Festival each spring.

It's a family affair. George operates the farm with wife, Wendy, his brother, Robert, and Robert's wife, Carol. George's son Ryan and his wife, Kristen, also help with the operation.

He said tulip season may just be the most fun, drawing priceless reactions from visitors.

"They go, ‘Wow look at all this!’ Ten football fields of color that they can walk through," Richardson said. "They lay on the ground and take their pictures. They take one billion pictures right down in the tulips it's so much fun."

Add food trucks, beer and wine, concessions and live music on Saturdays and Sundays and you have a full-fledged festival.

"We've got our own private lake here with picnic tables along the lake ... a beautiful atmosphere," he said.

But again, the window of opportunity is brief. Tickets cost $16- $19 and include one free tulip.