By Tyler Wright
After the massive event was suspended for three years due to the pandemic, The Tesselaar Tulip Festival has returned this year in all its colourful glory.
The Tesselar Tulip Festival usually sees 100,000 visitors each year, and until Sunday 9 October will display close to a million bulbs and hundreds of thousands of spring flowers; including daffodils and spring starflowers spread throughout the fields.
Food trucks, live music, tractor rides and themed weekends are among the activities for festival-goers to get involved in.
Tesselaar Tulip Festival director and fourth generation of the family run business, Paul Tesselaar, said due to a cold and wet winter, tulips have been slower to bloom and ticket sales have dropped slightly.
‘We had KaBloom earlier this year, which was our best KaBloom ever – we were inundated with people that we’re happy to get out, come up into Silvan through the forest, experience all the nature and fresh air we have out here,” Paul said.
“But with the weather it will be a bit slower this year, which happens on average about every four years where the weather is just a little bit dull.
We’re only just starting to get to the stage now where we’re happy with the amount of flowers out, so once the school holidays start, we should have a few bumper days to see us through to the ninth of October.”
Opening with Turkish weekend, followed by Dutch weekend, and upcoming Children’s weeks throughout the school holidays, this year’s Tulip Festival will also see a food, wine and jazz weekend from Friday 23 September to Sunday 25 September.
“90 per cent of [visitors] would be Melbournians living within one hour of the farm here,” Paul said.
“First generation Australians, Indian, Pakistanis and Caucasians as well, so it’s a massive mixture.”
One of the visitors roaming the fields of tulips on Thursday 15 September was Altona North resident Gayle Tout.
Armed with a camera and accompanied by her peers, Gayle was “making up for lost time” after the pandemic put a halt to outings such as flower festivals.
“[I’ve enjoyed] the amazing colours of tulips we probably weren’t aware of…yellow is quite a common one,” Gayle said.
From the beach-side town of Hampton also came David Oertle and his wife, who have been making trips to the Dandenong Ranges since 1990.
David has visited the Dandenong Ranges for rhododendron shows and to visit homesteads, but enjoyed the spring sun at the Tesselaar Tulip Festival last week.
“We in Victoria are used to that, right? We’ve had a rain shower, but now the sun is out and just a beautiful day to be out,” David said.
While the obvious tulip fields are a standout, Paul said there are hidden gems throughout the back of the farm, including rhododendrons finishing up flower and a blossom tree.
Paul does suggest bringing an old pair of shoes while exploring the damp fields, and to bring your own picnic if you’re looking to save some extra cash.
For updates on which tulips are in bloom, Tesselaar is posting updates every Wednesday on Facebook and Instagram for you to decide when the best time for you to visit.
For more information on the festival program, visit https://tulipfestival.com.au/
