In the beginning of 2020, the team at Holland Ridge Farms was working hard and gearing up to make the third annual Tulip Festival the best one yet. Sadly, all planning came to a screeching halt within a matter of weeks, as they waited to see how COVID-19 would unfold. As a small, family business that runs seasonally, they immediately became concerned how this could affect their original plans. Once it became clear that the Tulip Festival would no longer open like it was in years past, they buckled down and brainstormed safe and sufficient ways for our customers to still be able to view the tulip fields. Though they thought they had a great idea in place, it proved to be only the tip of the iceberg when it came to overcoming hardships this year. Below they’ve recapped the rollercoaster ride that is their 2020 tulip season.
Tulip trail canceled at the last minute
As we all know, the shutdown of businesses and the quarantine rules were put into place rather quickly in New Jersey. Since the safety of our guests were always in the forefront of our plans, we scrambled to unveil our brand-new drive through tulip trail. We worked hard to reconfigure and change the way we operate in order to ensure we were abiding by all rules. Once the opening day of the trail finally came, we were set to welcome our first customers to the farm. Unfortunately, when we got there, we were told the devastating news that we weren’t permitted to have customers on our fields and our trail would have to be shut down.
We experienced a lot of emotions when this happened, but we were mostly heartbroken that our months of planning, planting and preparing could have all been for nothing. We once again did our best to adapt and decided to implement a couple new services that could still bring our tulips into your homes.
A tulip surprise box delivered to your door
Once we knew there was a chance that our millions of tulips could just go to waste, we wanted to make sure that would never happen! That’s why we decided to start selling our fresh cut tulips online, so you could send or have our flowers delivered right to your door. We needed to go by what varieties were freshest that day, so our tulip surprise box featured 20 stems of fresh cut tulips in two mystery colors. Since we had never shipped tulips direct to customers before we had no way of knowing how well it would be perceived. We were completely blown away with the amount of people who purchased a surprise box and even more so with the people who showed kindness and patience with us as we navigated this brand–new service.
Tulip pickup at the farm
As we all know, the shutdown of businesses and the quarantine rules were put into place rather quickly in New Jersey. Since the safety of our guests were always in the forefront of our plans, we scrambled to unveil our brand-new drive through tulip trail. We worked hard to reconfigure and change the way we operate in order to ensure we were abiding by all rules. Once the opening day of the trail finally came, we were set to welcome our first customers to the farm. Unfortunately, when we got there, we were told the devastating news that we weren’t permitted to have customers on our fields and our trail would have to be shut down.
We experienced a lot of emotions when this happened, but we were mostly heartbroken that our months of planning, planting and preparing could have all been for nothing. We once again did our best to adapt and decided to implement a couple new services that could still bring our tulips into your homes.
The overwhelming support we received
Through all the challenges and ups and downs, one thing always remained true and that was the support from all our guests and customers. We never expected to receive the amount of emails, letters, comments, and messages that we did all from people offering to help and show support. Many either ordered surprise boxes or picked up at the farm just to spread joy and brighten up their loved one’s lives. We even had people who dropped off to hospitals, nursing homes and neighbors. We were moved to tears many times by the generosity of people that we saw day in and day out. We will forever be grateful to each and every one of you!
The future looks sunny
Now that our tulip season dust has settled, we’ve been working hard to prepare for our next event at the farm- our 2020 Sunflower Festival! In just a few short weeks we will begin planting the millions of sunflowers and other wildflowers that will be on display come September. We are planning to take you along for the ride through our Facebook and Instagram pages where we will be documenting the process.
We can’t wait to welcome you all to the farm come fall!
Source: Holland Ridge Farms