Family farm introduces Utah Tulip Festival as new ‘agritourism’ venture

SPANISH FORK — A family of farmers recently sprouted a new idea to help them make it in the modern economy. They’re pivoting to a crop that they’ve never grown in their over 150 years of operation.

“This is our first time — it’s definitely been a learning experience,” Kara Lewis, co-owner of Leland Legacy Farms, said as she overlooked a field full of 250,000 tulip bulbs. “Especially with the weather we’ve had this year — we’ve had a really warm spring. Tulips like to have a really cold winter. We didn’t really get that, so we were a little bit nervous.”

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Now in the second week of April, Lewis said the 70 different varieties of tulips have bloomed gorgeously and are now part of the farm’s first-ever “Utah Tulip Festival.”

“Not only do you get to look and experience all the beautiful tulips, but you can actually pick them and take them home with you,” Lewis said.

The family farm where the “u-pick” tulip festival is staged has been home to seven generations of farmers.

“We’ve been farming in this area for over 150 years,” Lewis said. “We’re still doing that. We’re still a beef cattle ranch.”

In recent years, the family turned to agritourism to help keep the farm profitable, primarily through Glen Ray’s Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch on land they own on the other side of I-15.

“Agritourism is a way that a lot of families are turning to keep their farms profitable,” she said.

Lewis said in what is shaping up to be a dry growing season, the pivot to tulips made extra sense.

“One, it’s actually a really drought-resistant crop,” Lewis said. “This is a really scary year for farmers. We don’t know what we’re going to be able to grow. Come summer, there is not going to be a lot of irrigation water, so this has been a way that we can turn the land into something profitable to help us get through some of these years where there’s a lot of uncertainty.”

The festival opened on Monday and already Lewis said the feedback has been favorable.

“We’ve had people coming out, just picking flowers to take to friends that are maybe having a hard time,” Lewis explained. “We had someone come out just to take the perfect bouquet to his girlfriend.”

On Thursday, plein air painter Rebecca Bishop stopped by to capture a vista she said she already had in mind.

“I’ve imagined flowers and a field, or fields like this with mountains behind it for a while, so I’m really excited to be here today,” Bishop said.

Influencer Ragen Chandler came to capture the moment with her husband and their children.

“The cool part is that you get to pick your own flowers and take some of them home, so we’ve just been gathering our own blooms,” Chandler said. “(The kids) are having a really fun time with cutting the flowers. We’re just being sure we supervise to be sure they cut the right ones.”

Lewis said she hoped to continue the festival through May 2, though she acknowledged that timeline is weather-dependent. She believed the next two weeks would be prime viewing time for the tulips.

“To be able to come out here and just feel the peace that comes from being together with your family, being outside on a farm — that’s just something I’ve always experienced and been lucky to have in my life,” Lewis said. “To be able to share that with other people is just really special.”