Abbotsford Tulip Festival delayed by cool weather

Organizers of the inauguralAbbotsford Tulip Festival are warningthe public that even though they're technically open, theirfields of tulips have yet to bloom.

"Unfortunately they're not going to bloom for another seven to 10 days," said owner AlexisWarmerdam.

"We had said we would open on March 25, so we did, and we're just trying to make the best of it."

Despiteabove average daytime temperatures acrossthe Lower Mainland for the past several weeks,the fourth-generation bulbgrowersaidthe weather hasn't been favourable for tulips.

"In February we were having double-digit evening temperatures, and then when those two wind storms came through, they dropped down to two or three degrees and thatslowed everything down."

The young farmer,with a team of approximately 15 people,planted 2.5 million bulbs all inone dayon the 4-hectare-fieldlastOctober, in preparation for the big event.

Tulips of the Valley cancelled

Abbotsford's festival is now the province's sole tulip eventafterAgassiz, B.C.'s Tulips of the Valley was cancelled in February after more than adecade in operation.

Marius Onos, who organized the Agassizevent with his daughter-in-law, said they had to shut down because they didn't have the land for a festivalafter their lease ended on Seabird Island.

They're now looking for another location but it's been a challenge to find fertile fields large enough toaccommodatethe masses of traffic.

Last year, RCMPshut them downtemporarily becauseof parking chaos.

It's a lessonWarmerdam took seriously into considerationprior to the launch of herevent.

"I have a six-acre gravel parking lot with busparking and about 450 parking stalls," she said.

Warmerdam said she didn't know that she would be running the only tulipfestival in B.C.when she started planning the event, andhopes her Agassizcompetitors get back into the game.

"We wish them all the best and I really hope they find another fieldbecausethere'sobviously lots of interest," she said.

"We've already hadlots of people come out and we've only been open for two days."

For those interested in paying a visit, she suggests checking the festival's field report on theirwebsite for updates