'A theme park for flowers': Instagram-worthy sights at Holland Ridge Farms in Cream Ridge

UPPER FREEHOLD - There’s nothing more symbolic of spring than acres and acres of colorful tulips in bloom. But lest you think you need to travel all the way to Holland to behold that breathtaking sight, think again.

Since 2018, Holland Ridge Farms in Cream Ridge has been bringing that iconic scene to the Jersey Shore, and hundreds of thousands of visitors have been flocking to the destination annually to enjoy both a beautiful sensory experience as well as a bit of Dutch culture.

“The farm itself is over 200 years old and was originally a dairy farm belonging to the Rue family,” said Patrick Marini, creative manager at Holland Ridge Farms, which was purchased by Casey Jansen Sr., 75, a Monroe resident, in 2018.

“The Jansen family are fifth-generation tulip growers and Casey Sr. can remember picking tulips in Holland — the region of the Netherlands where tulips are grown — in clogs," Marini said. "He came here as a teen in the 1960s, and today he and his son Casey Jansen Jr., 46, run the farm, and Casey Jr.’s three sons help out as well.”

According to Marini, Casey Sr. had been running a greenhouse business growing hydroponic tulips for over 40 years and he and his son were trying to expand that operation.

“When this farm came up for sale, Casey Sr. saw an opportunity to both expand their tulip business and bring his beloved Dutch culture to the area,” Marini said. After purchasing the 300-acre farm, “they launched their first tulip festival in 2018, which drew over 30,000 visitors and was an overwhelming success.”

Now home to two popular festivals each year — U-Pick Tulips in April and U-Pick Sunflowers (and other flowers) in September — “we’re first and foremost a flower farm as well as a promoter of Dutch culture,” Marini said.

'A theme park for flowers'

Opened this April 11 and scheduled to run through the last week of the month depending on the weather and the tulips’ blooming schedule, “we currently plant over 8 million tulip bulbs on 60 acres and are the biggest U-Pick flower farm in the country if not the world,” Marini said.

“While only 10% to 20% of the tulips get picked, the others bloom out and are great for taking photos in the flower fields. At the end, the petals fall out and you can harvest the bulbs,” he said, “but we actually bring in new bulbs from top-quality suppliers in Holland every year to ensure that we can grow the best and most robust tulips.

“Tulips come in every single color (and combination of colors) except blue or black, and the fact that there are so many variations and colors and that they bloom after you pick them is part of why they’re so popular,” explained Marini, who noted that their blooms typically last about a week.

Along with the joy of fresh-picked bouquets of tulips (available at the farm for $1 per stem plus tax), “people really want those photos of rows and rows of tulips because that’s what you see in Holland,” Marini said. “Planting as many bulbs as we do is a big investment, but it truly gives people the best experience, views and photos.”

To enable those photo opportunities, Holland Ridge Farms’ admission fee of $15 per person (ages 3 and up) grants visitors access to their fields and over 20 photo ‘props’ and settings that Marini and his team have created, including vintage barn doors, flower walls, a porch swing, a Cinderella-like carriage, and other spring-inspired backdrops.

“It’s like a theme park for flowers, and with our nearly 30 food trucks onsite every day and our over 250 picnic tables, it’s like a mini food truck festival as well,” Marini said. “We get a lot of professional photographers doing formal photo shoots here, and our farm has also been the site of many milestone events such as proposals/engagements, wedding ceremonies, baby showers and more.

“Our admission fee also includes access to our petting zoo with many farm animals that kids can feed, our bakery featuring fresh baked goods from DeLuca's House of Cakes in Point Pleasant, our gift shop featuring Dutch souvenirs and branded apparel, and free hayrides taking people to various parts of the farm,” Marini continued. “This year, we’re also a sponsor of The Netherland Club of New York and we hope to host events of theirs here.”

While the team from Holland Ridge Farms is passionate about celebrating the magic of tulips and Holland, they’re not alone.

“We now welcome hundreds of thousands of people to our U-Pick Tulip Festival every year and it’s one of the biggest events in the state,” Marini said, noting that in addition to area residents, visitors routinely come from as far as New York City, Philadelphia, the New England states and even Central and South America. “There’s nothing like this anywhere and it’s grown far beyond what we could ever have imagined in such a short time.”

For those who can’t get to the event in-person but still want to enjoy the gift of giving or getting tulips, “our Tulip Surprise Boxes — a ‘surprise’ because you don’t know what color you’ll get — are $22 for 20 stems, which includes the shipping fee anywhere in the country,” Marini said. Available from January through early May through their website and sourced from their hydroponic tulip greenhouses, “people ship them to friends and family members all over the country for all sorts of occasions.”

'The face of Holland in America'

Innovation is ongoing at Holland Ridge Farms, which owns greenhouses in Millstone, Monroe and Upper Freehold in addition to its main location in Cream Ridge. Among recent enhancements, “we’ve invested in automated machinery and now use nets that enable our machines to pull bulbs out of the ground with greater ease,” Marini said.

With Casey Sr. driving the farm’s strategy as the owner, Casey Jr. overseeing operations as the farm’s president, and the support of 10 full-time employees year-round and over 200 who help to manage the April event, “we plant our bulbs over a two-week period in late October and let Mother Nature work from there,” Marini said.

“During the winter, we spend time developing new photo props and designing upcoming events," Marini continued. "Beyond our U-Pick Tulip and Sunflower festivals, we hope to do a Christmas craft market, are collaborating with Asbury Fresh on a Mother’s Day Market at our farm on Saturday, May 13 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and hope to host other fun events, like movie nights and holiday-themed markets, throughout the year.”

Among challenges, Marini said that weather remains their most unpredictable variable. “In years past, we’ve been concerned about rain, but with this month’s recent hot spell, we’re now concerned about the heat blooming the tulips too fast,” he said.

Competition, however, isn’t as much of a factor.

“Other farms along the east coast are popping up doing similar things to us, including one in South Jersey and one in Alabama, but they’re on a smaller scale,” he said. “We’re at the forefront of this industry and have taken it to the next level.”

Looking ahead, “we’re in the process of building an authentic, 100-foot-tall, fully functional Dutch windmill on the property that visitors will be able to go into and take pictures of, as well as an ‘Amsterdam Village’ with a café,” Marini said of the farm’s ongoing efforts to promote Dutch culture.

As for tulips, “they’re the first sign of spring, come in a rainbow of colors, and are a feel-good flower,” Marini said. “There’s a Dutch term called ‘gezellig,’ which means being sociable and welcoming with family and friends, and that truly sums up the feeling when you come to Holland Ridge Farms.”

Ultimately, “we’re excited to build the feeling of gezellig in the community and bring that Dutch culture to the U.S.,” Marini concluded. “We want to be the face of Holland in America.”

Holland Ridge Farms

Location: 86 Rues Road, Cream Ridge section of Upper Freehold

Owner: Casey Jansen Sr. and the Jansen Family

Founded: 2018

Website: www.hollandridgefarms.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Holland Ridge Farms NJ tulip festival offers Instagram-worthy setting