Tulip Time Festival | |
---|---|
Status | active |
Genre | Tulip festival |
Begins | May 3, 2025 |
Ends | May 11, 2025 |
Frequency | Annually |
Location(s) | Holland, Michigan |
Coordinates | 42°47′N86°6′W / 42.783°N 86.100°W |
Country | US |
Years active | 94–95 |
Inaugurated | 1929 |
Website | tuliptime |
Tulip Time Festival is an annual festival held in Holland, Michigan. Tulip festivals are held in many cities around the United States of America that were founded or largely inhabited by Dutch settlers. It has been held every year (except 2020) in mid-May since 1929 and is currently the longest running tulip festival in the United States. [1] The festival currently runs from the first Saturday in May through the second Sunday.
Activities at the celebration include three parades, fireworks, a Dutch Market, various shows and concerts, a craft fair, klompen dancing, and street scrubbing. The city of Holland has thousands of tulips lining the streets and in special tulip gardens throughout the city.
Tulip Time's roots can be traced to a 1927 community beautification project. Lida Rogers, a biology teacher at Holland High School, suggested Holland adopt the tulip as its flower due to the city's close ties to The Netherlands.
In 1928, City council approved funding to import 100,000 tulip bulbs from the Netherlands and plant them in city parks. The next year, the city invited visitors to come during the week including May 15. The success prompted an annual event to be born. During World War II, Tulip Time was scaled back, returning with a four-day festival in 1946.
The 1947 festival was geared towards celebrating Holland, Michigan's centennial. A tradition was started that year when Michigan's governor, Kim Sigler, donned a Dutch costume and took part in the festivities. As America celebrated its bicentennial in 1976, Tulip Time was honored with the presence of President Gerald R. Ford, a Michigander who had formerly represented nearby Grand Rapids in the United States Congress.
The reconstruction of the authentic 200-year-old "De Zwaan" windmill on Windmill Island in 1965 added another tourist attraction. [2]
In 1991, Tulip Time expanded from four to ten days. In 2001, the festival was shortened to eight days and moved up a week to better coincide with when the tulips were in bloom. A carnival was added in 2003.
In 2008, the outdoor concert series, renamed Tulipalooza, was moved to the Sixth Street Stage at 6th street and College Ave.
The 2020 festival was canceled for the first time due to the COVID-19 crisis. [3] In 2021 the festival was resumed virtually, and in 2022 the festival returned to in-person activities.
The Tulip Time festival has hosted performances and appearances by many well known artists and public figures.
1977 featured Johnny Cash
2000 featured a concert by pop star Christina Aguilera.
2001 featured O-Town.
2006 featured performances by Frankie Avalon, The Oak Ridge Boys, Jars of Clay and AG Silver.
2007 featured Bruce Hornsby.
2008 featured entertainment included Jonny Lang, Tony Orlando, and Ronnie Milsap.
2009 featured Jan Mulder, 1964 The Tribute, Bobby Vinton, and The Oak Ridge Boys.
2010 featured The Coasters, The Drifters, & The Platters, Starship featuring Mickey Thomas (singer), and a seminar by former Blackwater Worldwide CEO and Holland native Erik Prince.
2014 featured comedian Bill Cosby.
The festival is mentioned in The Simpsons episode "Mobile Homer" as one of the places that Homer wishes he could take his RV.
It was also featured in the 1942 film "Seven Sweethearts".
Pella is a city in Marion County, Iowa, United States, with a population of 10,464 at the time of the 2020 U.S. Census. Founded by immigrants from the Netherlands, it is forty miles southeast of Des Moines. Pella is the home of Central College, as well as several manufacturing companies, including Pella Corporation and Vermeer Manufacturing Company.
Plymouth is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Plymouth is located roughly 27 miles (43.5 km) northwest of downtown Detroit, and 18 miles (29.0 km) northeast of Ann Arbor. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 9,370. It is surrounded by, but independent of, Plymouth Township.
Nederland is a city in Jefferson County, Texas, United States. The population was 18,856 at the 2020 census.
Holland is a city in Ottawa and Allegan counties in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan on Lake Macatawa, which is fed by the Macatawa River. Holland is a thriving city with a diverse economy that includes manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, and higher education. It is home to a number of prominent companies, including Herman Miller, Haworth, and Adient, formerly known as Johnson Controls. The city also attracts thousands of visitors each year for its annual Tulip Time Festival, which celebrates the area's Dutch heritage and vibrant tulip fields.
The Netherlands Carillon is a 127-foot (39-m) tall campanile housing a 53-bell carillon located in Arlington County, Virginia. The instrument and tower were given in the 1950s "From the People of the Netherlands to the People of the United States of America" to thank the United States for its contributions to the liberation of the Netherlands in 1945 and for its economic aid in the years after. The Netherlands Carillon is a historic property listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of Arlington Ridge Park, which is part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. It is owned and operated by the National Park Service.
The Oak Ridge Boys are an American country and gospel vocal quartet originating in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Since 2024, the group consists of Duane Allen, William Lee Golden, Richard Sterban, and Ben James. The group was founded in 1943 as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular in Southern gospel during the 1950s. Their name was changed to the Oak Ridge Boys in the early 1960s, and they remained a gospel group until the mid-1970s, when they changed their image and concentrated on country music.
Bonnaroo is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment. Since its first year in 2002, it has been held at what is now Great Stage Park on a 700-acre (280 ha) farm in Manchester, Tennessee. The festival typically starts on the second Thursday in June and lasts four days. It has been held every year except in 2020, when it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2021 when it was canceled due to excessive rain from Hurricane Ida flooding the campground. The main attractions of this festival are the multiple stages featuring live music with a diverse array of musical styles including indie rock, classic rock, world music, hip hop, jazz, Americana, bluegrass, country music, folk, gospel, reggae, pop, electronic, and other alternative music. Musical acts begin Wednesday evening for early arrivals, continue throughout the festival, with performances starting each day around noon, and some stages entertaining festival goers until sunrise.
Tulip festivals are held in several cities around the world, mostly in North America, usually in cities with a Dutch heritage such as Albany, New York; Ottawa, Ontario; Gatineau, Quebec; Montreal, Quebec; Holland, Michigan; Lehi, Utah; Orange City, Iowa; Pella, Iowa; Mount Vernon, Washington; and Woodburn, Oregon, and in other countries such as New Zealand, Australia, India, and England. The tulips are considered a welcome harbinger of spring, and a tulip festival permits residents to see them at their best advantage. The festivals are also popular tourist attractions. The tulips are displayed throughout the cities. In certain years the peak of tulips does not coincide with the actual festival due to climatic conditions.
The Canadian Tulip Festival is a tulip festival held annually each May in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The festival claims to be the world's largest tulip festival, displaying over one million tulips, with attendance of over 650,000 visitors annually. Large displays of tulips are planted throughout the city, the largest of which are often in Commissioners Park on the shores of Dow's Lake, and along the Rideau Canal with 300,000 tulips planted there alone.
Floriade is a flower and entertainment festival held annually in Canberra's Commonwealth Park on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. It features extensive displays of flowering bulbs with integrated sculptures and other artistic features. Floriade comes from the Latin word floriat, which means to design with flowers.
Dutch Americans are Americans of Dutch and Flemish descent whose ancestors came from the Low Countries in the distant past, or from the Netherlands as from 1830 when the Flemish became independent from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands by creating the Kingdom of Belgium. Dutch settlement in the Americas started in 1613 with New Amsterdam, which was exchanged with the English for Suriname at the Treaty of Breda (1667) and renamed New York City. The English split the Dutch colony of New Netherland into two pieces and named them New York and New Jersey. Further waves of immigration occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries.
De Zwaan is an authentic Dutch windmill in the city of Holland, Michigan. The windmill's name is Dutch for The Swan or Graceful Bird. It is the oldest authentic, working Dutch windmill in the United States. De Zwaan is located in Windmill Island municipal park.
Memphis in May International Festival is a month-long festival held in Memphis, Tennessee. The festival, which is saluting Ghana in 2022, honors a specific foreign country every year and features many events. The Beale Street Music Festival takes place the first weekend in May and showcases an eclectic lineup of national and local musical talent. International Week is a series of exhibits, screenings, arts and performances dedicated to each year's honored country. The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest has become one of the most popular barbecue contests in the country and has been observed for 46 years. The Great American River Run Half Marathon & 5K welcomes runners of all experience levels through the streets of Memphis and along the banks of the Mississippi River, while 901Fest includes a salute to all things Memphis.
Windmill Island Gardens is a municipal park located in the city of Holland, Michigan. It is home to the 251-year-old windmill De Zwaan, the only authentic, working Dutch windmill in the United States.
Tulips are spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes in the Tulipa genus. Their flowers are usually large, showy, and brightly coloured, generally red, orange, pink, yellow, or white. They often have a different coloured blotch at the base of the tepals, internally. Because of a degree of variability within the populations and a long history of cultivation, classification has been complex and controversial. The tulip is a member of the lily family, Liliaceae, along with 14 other genera, where it is most closely related to Amana, Erythronium, and Gagea in the tribe Lilieae.
The Tulip Festival is held in Albany, New York every spring at Washington Park. Each year, the event lasts for a weekend and coincides with Mother's Day.
Koningsdag or King's Day is a national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Celebrated on 27 April, the date marks the birth of King Willem-Alexander. When the Dutch monarch is female, the holiday is known as Koninginnedag or Queen's Day and, under Queen Beatrix until 2013, was celebrated on 30 April. She prolonged the tradition that was born under her mother’s reign: Queen Juliana’s birthday was on April 30th.
The area of New York's Capital District, also known as the Albany metropolitan area, has seen prominent historical events, artistic creations, and unique contributions to the culture of the United States since the 17th century. The largest city in the area, Albany, consistently ranks high on lists of top cities/metro areas for culture, such as being 23rd in the book Cities Ranked & Rated. The Albany-Schenectady-Troy metro area ranked 12th among large metro areas, and Glens Falls ranked 12th among the small metro areas, in Sperling's Best Places, and Expansion Management gave the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area five Stars, its highest ranking, for quality of life features.
The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is a tulip festival in the Skagit Valley of Washington state, United States. It is held annually in the spring, April 1 to April 30.
Home Free is an American country a cappella group of five vocalists: Adam Bell-Bastien, Adam Chance, Rob Lundquist, Adam Rupp, and Tim Foust. Starting as a show group, they toured with approximately 200 shows a year across the United States. The group won the fourth season of The Sing-Off on NBC in 2013. They sang an arrangement of Hunter Hayes's "I Want Crazy" as their final competitive song, earning the group $100,000 and a recording contract with Sony.