Tulips are a flower few girls would swoon for. I, however, am a girl that would. Every May, thousands of people swarm to Holland, Mich., to celebrate this flower. The original idea for the Tulip Time Festival was brought about in 1927 by a Holland High School teacher. The majority of people who live in Holland have Dutch heritage of some kind. Since Holland has such a large tie with the Netherlands, she believed they should adopt the tulip as the town flower and set aside a day to celebrate it. So many people came to participate in the day that, over the years, the festival has flourished into a week long event.
The Tulip Time Festival is a time every citizen of Holland looks forward to. Not only does it mean a week of half days in school, but it also means a plethora of junk food and Dutch dancers to watch. However, there were some downfalls. For one, beginning in kindergarten, you have to be fitted with a festive Dutch costume and walk in parades. It wasn't the worst thing; however, when you are about 3 feet tall, walking a mile and a half while sweeping a street takes a lot of effort. Second, you are forced to pose in said costumes in patches of tulips for your parents' amusement. You sit in the itchy grass as they run around snapping pictures. Then you get the random tourists who take pictures of you from behind your parents, because if you are wearing a Dutch costume, it's OK. Lastly, there is traffic. Holland is a small town, so packing an extra 1,000 people into it is a feat. Greyhound buses full of the elderly and foreigners roll up and park on the daily. The parade route splits the town in half, and there is no easy way to get around it. It is complete chaos for those who live there and just want to go home.
Though Tulip Time is very chaotic and can cause some childhood experiences we all wish we could forget (yes I am talking to you, fourth graders dressed as a pig in a blanket, I promise it gets better), it is a time of year I always look forward to. It is a time when my community comes together to put on something so amazing it has the ability to attract people from around the world. Each event celebrates the Dutch culture and helps bring our community closer. For one week we are not a town, we are a family.
