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Tulip Time Festival
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tulip Time Festival is an annual festival in Holland, Michigan. Tulip festivals are held in many cities around the United States of America that were founded by settlers from the Netherlands. It has been held every year in mid-May since 1929. The festival currently runs from the first Saturday in May through the second Saturday.
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. It has been ranked as America's third largest town festival and named Reader's Digest's best small town festival.
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.
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.
The year 2000 featured a concert by pop star Christina Aguilera. 2001 had a concert by the boy band O-Town. The 2006 festival featured performances by Frankie Avalon, The Oak Ridge Boys, and Jars of Clay.
