The calendar of events for Albany’s 75th Tulip Festival is out.
In March 2020, during the darkest days of COVID, Mayor Kathy Sheehan promised residents a celebration once Albany was in the clear.
"We're gonna be back to normal at some point in time we're going to have a big celebration at some point in time," said Sheehan.
Now, Sheehan says the usual three-day Tulip Festival is being expanded.
"75th annual tulip celebration is going to actually kick off with the return of First Friday on May 5th," Sheehan said. "Overit and Nippertown are teaming up to rebrand and help revive First Friday in Albany. We lost First Friday with the pandemic. It's time to bring it back. And that monthly celebration which highlights Albany's creative community is going to launch on the 5th and be part of our 75th tulip celebration. There's a lot of potential for growth in our creative economy, so they're collaborating with Discover Albany, our business improvement and neighborhood organizations citywide, as well as local artists, musicians and influencers to help spread the word. So more information about this exciting event is going to be released in the coming days. Stay tuned: it will be a blast."
Among other activities, May 9th at 9 p.m. there will be "tulip karaoke" at the War Room restaurant. And on, May 10th Rocks is hosting a Tulip Queen drag show at 9 p.m. Sheehan says the traditional "street scrubbing" will take place May 12th, with an evening reception at the Albany Institute of History and Art and a Tulip Court half-time presentation during the scheduled Patroons game at the Washington Avenue Armory.
Sheehan says Saturday's festival in Washington Park will kick off at 11 a.m. and features the crowning the tulip queen, followed by the Royal Tulip Ball 6:30 p.m. at the New York State Museum. The Tulip Festival continues in the park on Mother's Day from 11 to 6.
"As you know we've had unseasonably warm weather," Sheehan said. "So I will tell everyone, don't wait till Tulip Festival to go enjoy the tulips. The tulips are blooming, they're beautiful. I was in the Park on Saturday, people are taking pictures. So please go and enjoy the tulips. Mother Nature doesn't always coordinate with our Tulip Festival calendar. So we don't want you arriving on the day of Tulip Festival to find that most of the beautiful blooms have passed on."
City Gardener Jenna Ditinno says follow the mayor's advice if you're looking for a floral fix.
"So you always want to see them sooner," said Ditinno. "You never want to come during the festival, you'll never have room to enjoy them. I always suggest you come a week or two before, on an overcast day. If you want pictures come on an overcast day. It's the perfect way to get that bright vibrant color of the tulips. But I would come probably anywhere from now to like mid this week, until next week."
Sheehan noted "We will also be hosting some dignitaries, the mayor of our sister city Nijmegen, which sent us the tulips 75 years ago for our first Tulip Festival."
