Wooden Shoe tulips from roadside stand to monthlong festival…
Woodburn, Ore. – Barb Iverson, the fifth of six children born to Willamette Valley farmers, parlayed her cut flower stand into what this year will be the 26th annual month-long Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm Fest. Between March 25 and May 1, 2011, the festival will draw more than 150,000 visitors from all over the world.
The beginning
“The idea that led to the festival came in 1985 during lunch with a couple of friends,” Iverson said. “I came home and with the help of my family, fashioned a poly tarp and some pieces of PVC pipe into a couple of green houses, brought in some crates and wheelbarrows of cut flowers, put up some signs along the road and people stopped and bought flowers. After that it just kept getting bigger and this year is no exception.”
Mt. Hood gives a finishing touch to a field of tulips at Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm during the annual tulip festival; photo by Barb Iverson
The Iverson family grows and harvests grass seed, wheat, sweet corn and green beans plus 60 acres of tulips and daffodils. During the festival, weekday visitors may enjoy a variety of activities in addition to strolling the fields, buying cut flowers and ordering bulbs for fall planting. On the weekends (there will be six this year), everything is kicked up a notch with food, wine and a long list of family activities.
Iverson’s office, where she also manages the finances for all of the Iverson farm operations, overlooks the tulip fields where the festival takes place.
A love of agriculture
Iverson – herself a volunteer fire fighter and EMT for her local fire department, is a board member of the Oregon Farm Bureau and the Monitor Co-op and an executive committee member for the Oregon Association of Nurseries – has created fundraising opportunities at the Tulip Fest for local Cub Scouts, students from Woodburn and Gervais High Schools and local Kiwanis and Rotary clubs.
Making memories
“I come from parents who believe serving their community is the right thing to do
Barb Iverson, parlayed a cut flower stand into an annual month-long Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm Fest held in Woodburn Oregon March 25 - May 1; photo by Jan Jackson
and that is what this family does,” Iverson said of her volunteer commitments. “However, I do enjoy the challenges inherent in agriculture, the innovation necessary, the step-up and move into that next phase and I get a great deal of satisfaction from the feedback we get from families who tell us about the wonderful memories they have made by coming back to the tulip fields year after year.“
Though now retired, Lou Jane Cornwell, one of the two friends that inspired Iverson over lunch, never misses a trip to the festival.
“Oh, you bet I go out to the festival,” Cornwell said. “I wouldn’t miss it. I love tulips and buy fresh bulbs every year and I love to shop in the gift shop. I don’t remember Marge and I being that inspiring but, if we were, I’m glad because it has been a wonderful thing.”
For more information on the festival, maps to the farm or other questions, call the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm at 503-634-2243, or 1-800-711-2006 or visit www.woodenshoe.com.
Jan Jackson ©2011 – See Jan Jackson Bio
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