Tulip Time!

Flower extravaganza.

There is something about Spring. It is a time of new beginnings, a time of hope, a time of change. It has probably always been this way. People’s moods improve with more light and more opportunities to be outside, planning begins for Summer vacations, and neighbors emerge from their Winter hiding places.

And the flowers come out. Trees bud, the landscape turns green, and color is everywhere. In Holland, Michigan, it is time for the annual Tulip Time Festival.

The Tulip Time Festival began in 1929, as residents of Holland gave homage to their Dutch heritage, and started celebrating. There are wooden shoe dancers, a quilt show, a fine art exhibit (winners can be seen here), a Tulip Time run, and several parades. The city plants hundreds of thousands of tulip bulbs each year, and the results are spectacular. Fields of brightly colored flowers can be found in many of the city parks, and tulips are planted in houses on every street.

The festival was cancelled for the first time in 2020 due to COVID, but returned in 2021. Thousands of visitors head to Holland to join the fun. We headed to Holland for this year’s festivities, and had a good time (although the two-hour long parade was a little much for me). It was fun to see a full-size windmill and to eat some of the local fare.

The Tulip Time Festival has been named “The Best Small-Town Festival in America” by Readers Digest. It is worth a trip.