SPRING 2022 | FLOWER POWER
Holland’s Extravaganza Annual Tulip Time spectacular showcases lush gardens, Dutch exhibits and dancing, parades, and few new surprises
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other Nature didn’t have to make the world so beautiful, but that's what she did when she sent flowers. You can see 5 million of them in Holland. Depending on the weather from the end of April to the beginning of May, a cascade of tulips opens their vivid petals in this western Michigan city. They shimmer on street corners, along neighborhood medians, at tulip farms, and in every park, large and small. Waving in red, yellow, orange, pink, striped, frilled, swirled, and multi-toned, from tiny to gigantic, the symphony of color peaks on its own schedule, but it’s usually in its glory during the Tulip Time
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Festival, this year May 7-15. “The City of Holland and some surrounding partners plant more than half a million tulip bulbs in dozens of varieties and colors every fall so we can welcome spring with a city bursting with color and fresh blooms,” says Gwen Auwerda, executive director of Tulip Time. With two parades, art shows, music, dancing, and examples of quaint Dutch heritage, the festival gaily welcomes spring. Avid flower lovers often can sneak a quieter peak at the tulips (if blooming) in the week before or after the festival, when crowds are fewer and photos are easier to take. “If tulips happen to bloom early, we do have serious flower people here,” says Lin-
da Hart, executive director of the Holland Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. Founded by Dutch settlers, Holland has made the most of its heritage since 1929, when the first “tulip day” was held and the tulip festival was born. This year, Tulip Time offers a few new attractions: • Dutch horticulturist Ibo Gülsen has designed a tulip immersion garden at the Ottawa County fairgrounds to showcase 50,000 flowers in raised beds. His weeklong activity also focuses on the tulip's history and its origins. • Dutch and American cultural values are explored in a three-part photo series art show called “Zeeland Girl (Zeeuws Meisje),” coordinated by Dutch photographer Rem van den Bosch. His photos will
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TULIP TIME FESTIVAL
By Ellen Creager
MICHIGAN BLUE
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3/9/22 1:35 PM
