The U.S. Postal Service is celebrating the arrival of spring and Americans’ love for tulips by issuing Tulip Blossoms Forever stamps. The first-day-of-issue event will take place at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn, OR, on Wednesday, April 5, 2023, at 11 a.m. PT. The event is open to the public, and news of the stamps is being shared with the hashtag #TulipBlossomsStamps.
Linda Malone, engineering systems vice president of the U.S. Postal Service, will serve as dedicating official. The Postal Service has purchased a limited number of tickets to enter the festival, which are required for entry. To sign up for a ticket, please RSVP at usps.com/tulipblossoms.
Each fall, millions of gardeners plant tulip bulbs, eagerly anticipating the reward that spring will bring. Thick green leaves soon poke through the soil, revealing tulip blossoms in a spectacular variety of colors, from prim to ostentatious. The tulip, a member of the lily family (Liliaceae), originated as a wildflower in Central Asia. Dutch immigrants brought the first tulip bulbs to America hundreds of years ago, and today, we import more than 1 billion bulbs per year.
The Tulip Blossoms Forever stamps feature closeup views of 10 different tulips in a rainbow of colors. Each flower fills almost the entire frame of the stamp, with just the top of the stem showing. Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamps using existing photographs by Denise Ippolito. The Tulip Blossoms stamps will be issued as Forever stamps in booklets of 20, as well as coils of 3,000 and 10,000.
Customers can purchase stamps and other philatelic products through the Postal Store at usps.com/shopstamps, by calling 844-737-7826, by mail through USA Philatelic, or at Post Office locations nationwide. The Tulip Blossoms Forever stamps are a celebration of spring and the enduring beauty of tulips, which continue to captivate and inspire us.