By Lisa Kava

The West Side Community Garden (WSCG), with entrances on both 89th and 90th Streets between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, has announced a significant change for their popular annual Tulip Festival for Spring, 2022.

The festival, which has historically taken place over two specific weekends each April, will last for one month this year, beginning April 10th and going through the first week of May.

The weekends of April 16-17 and April 23-24 will be designated as “Information Days,” Judy Robinson, president of WSCG’s Board of Directors, told West Side Rag. On those days, garden members will be sitting at tables from 10 AM–6 PM, available to answer questions.

“Our intention is to make it clear to everyone that you can see the tulips any day of the week during this period, and that there will be different tulips in bloom as the season progresses,” Robinson wrote to the Rag in an email. “We’re hoping that this information will help to spread out the huge weekend crowds we’ve had in the past.”

More than 12,000 tulips will be on display during this time.

WSCG is a 1.25-acre lot, containing a flower garden in the front and individually assigned vegetable plots in the back. The vegetable-plot area is kept locked, and there is a 2-3 year wait list to become a plotholder. The front part of WSCG, which is open to the public from dawn to dusk, contains flowers, plants, and benches.

WSCG was incorporated as a not-for-profit in 1983 and took ownership of the Garden in 1989. In the 1970’s, the space was an empty lot filled with trash. A group of passionate neighborhood gardeners fought for the land to be protected from development.