The Tulip Time Festival is an annual tulip festival held in Holland, Michigan, United States. The festival began in 1929 after a civic beautification effort led to the planting of 100,000 tulip bulbs in the city. It is held over ten days in early May and features tulip displays, parades, Dutch-American cultural activities, dancing, exhibits, a carnival, and live entertainment. It has been described as the longest-running tulip festival in the United States.
History The festival originated with a proposal made in 1927 by Lida Rogers, a biology teacher at Holland High School, who advocated planting tulips as a way to reflect the city's Dutch heritage. In 1928, the Holland City Council purchased 100,000 tulip bulbs from the Netherlands. After the bulbs bloomed the following spring, the city invited visitors to view the flowers, establishing what became the annual festival.
The festival was suspended during World War II. Festival activities resumed after the war, with a four-day festival held in 1946.
In 1991, Tulip Time expanded from four days to ten. In 2001, organizers moved the festival earlier in May and shortened it to eight days in an effort to better coincide with the blooming of the tulips. The festival subsequently returned to a ten-day format.
The 2020 festival was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It returned in 2021 with a modified program that combined in-person activities with virtual events.
Festival Tulip Time events are held at locations throughout Holland, with most festival venues situated within approximately four miles of downtown. Programming varies from year to year and includes parades, Dutch dancing, cultural and artisan exhibits, walking tours, a carnival, fireworks, and musical and theatrical performances. Tulips are planted along streets and in parks and gardens throughout the city and at several area attractions.
In popular culture The festival is part of the setting of the 2025 film Holland, starring Nicole Kidman. Portions of the production were filmed at Windmill Island and during Tulip Time in Holland, while parade sequences were filmed in Tennessee.
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