Blackwell woman makes Tulips Festival "revival" her mission

Blackwell’s iconic Tulips A Bloom Festival is being rebooted and will return May 7 after a hiatus of more than 10 years.

The event will take place beginning at 9 a.m. that day on Main Street in downtown Blackwell.

The festival will last until 3 p.m. and feature food, live music, games, a petting zoo, a treasure hunt, the coronation of a Tulip Prince and Princess, vendors, contests, drawings, face paintings, bounce-houses, and local shopping.

But how did this all come to be? How did a long-standing Blackwell staple that seemed lost to the faded photos in shoe-boxes and shop windows come back after all these years?

Shantel Emerine, a Blackwell High School graduate from the Class of 2011, is using her fond memories of participating in the springtime event to tap into nostalgia that spans generations. Her goal is to bring the festival back to Blackwell in a big way with the support of several local businesses and organizations.

“I’ve been wanting to bring the tulips festival back for years,” Emerine said. “At first, I wasn’t sure how to go about it.”

Emerine, a small-business owner who has organized several pop-up events in the area supporting fellow vendors, said she was determined to bring the festival back to Blackwell.

“The Tulips A Bloom Festival was a great tradition for Blackwell,” she said. “It brought so many people together as a community, and it brought people into town from far and wide to see what Blackwell was all about.”

The festival was a springtime event in which Main Street was filled with vendors, specialty displays and musical concerts from Blackwell students and local acts. It ran from 1995 to 2010. In its final years, it was moved to the Kay County Free Fairgrounds.

“I remember the entire community came together to make the event happen, from community members to the city, to schools, churches and local businesses,” Emerine said. “I remember the local bait shop having goldfish as prizes. I remember wearing matching shirts and getting to sing with my class. I remember looking around and seeing the adults with their kids, enjoying the food, shopping and watching their little ones sing.

“Everyone came to see what our community had to offer.”

Blackwell might have changed since then. Buildings that once lined Main Street in the festival’s heyday might sit empty with dusty windows and cobwebs where smiling faces once greeted customers.

But with new businesses continuing to move into town, the nation emerging from a brutal pandemic, new homes popping up and a renewed sense of unification running through the veins of America’s Hometown, Emerine said now is the perfect time to bring the festival back – and make it better than ever.

“Being a resident of Blackwell my entire life and having these traditions when I was a kid made me think of how, when I look at my own children, I want them to be able to experience the same amazing things I was able to when I was their age downtown in the heart of our community,” she said.

“I want them to be a part of that fun and excitement, and to see the entire community coming together – just as I saw it – to make this kind of event possible.”

Of course, as it was in the past, no one can do it alone.

“We wouldn’t be able to do this without the guidance from the City of Blackwell’s officials, as well as the Blackwell Community Foundation,” Emerine said. “The Blackwell Tourism organization will be sponsoring Nate the Great, a children’s entertainer, and other small businesses will be donating prizes.”

Emerine also said the Top of Oklahoma Museum has been a tremendous help.

Festival organizers are requesting art students to participate in a sidewalk chalk art contest. Judges will pick the best chalk art and hand out prizes.

Those interested can contact Emerine by calling 580-262-9002. Volunteers are also being sought to help set up games and contests.