After Niagara-on-the-Lake’s new tulip farm saw trouble during its opening weekend this spring, with heavy rain causing the farm to flood and hours of traffic, its owner paid a visit to council last Tuesday to apologize for the tumult and establish a better relationship with the community going forward.
Frank Boendermaker and his wife Jill McCourt operate TASC Tulip Pick Farm, which opened its first farm in NOTL last October. TASC operates in Canada, the U.S. and the Netherlands and also has a tulip farm in Fenwick.
Boendermaker appeared as a delegate in front of the general committee of the whole during its meeting on June 17.
Multiple councillors welcomed him to the town after he gave his presentation.
“We want to be in a place that fits are values,” said Boendermaker. “This is the place we want to settle in. Let’s see how we can make out.”
The big event for the company is the annual TASC Tulip Festival, held on its grounds from the last week of April to the first weekend of May — this year, it was held at its new location in town on Line 3 Road.
However, trouble arrived at this year’s festival on May 3, making for a uniquely difficult situation for TASC, its staff and many customers.
“It was opening weekend, and it got rained out,” said Boendermaker. “There was a massive amount of rain, about two weeks. We opened up on Saturday morning, and at around two o’clock and people literally got stuck in the mud. They couldn’t get in and they couldn’t get out.”
This event forced Boendermaker and McCourt to close the farm for two days to make sure everything was safe.
While Boendermaker said it was “disappointing” that he felt he let his neighbours and the community down by “clogging up the roads” during an event that turned out to have serious setbacks, he also said he learned from the experience.
“I’m very proud of how we managed it,” said Boendermaker. “We spent $40,000 to fix the mud … and in two days we were open.”
“We apologized to the neighbours, we told them ‘We’re sorry,’” he said.
Boendermaker also said he never introduced himself to the community, which was another part of why he felt there were issues with the event. That was a big part of why he was in council.
“We want to be seen as a valued member of the community,” said Boendermaker.
Boendermaker said the tulip farm has about three million bulbs that people can walk through during their spring festival.
He also said about 20 per cent of NOTL residents visited his spring festival, and that about 73 per cent of people who came visited from more than 100 kilometres away.
TASC’s tulip farm in Niagara-on-the-Lake is now closed for the season.
