Tulip Festival

The Tulip Festivals are held in several North American cities, most often ones with Dutch heritage, including Albany, New York; Ottawa, Ontario; Holland, Michigan; Orange City, Iowa; Pella, Iowa; Mount Vernon, Washington; and Woodburn, Oregon. 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 Albany, NY, Tulip Festival set in Albany’s beautiful historic Washington Park. Each year, this traditional Albany event greets spring with thousands of tulips blooming in a myriad of colors and varieties. Thousands from across the Capital District Region and beyond come to Tulip Fest each May to celebrate Albany’s rich Dutch heritage.
*The Canadian Tulip Festival, which claims to be the world's largest tulip festival, is a major cultural event held annually each May in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
*Belle Plaine, Kansas, home of the Bartlett Arboretum has held its Tulip Time Festival on the third weekend in April since 1986 with arts and craft, live music, carnival, and other fun and games. Belle Plaine used to be famous for having the most tulips planted in one spot in the USA.

*Fulton, Illinois's Dutch Days festival is held the first weekend of every May. It was first celebrated as an "Authentic Dutch Dinner" in 1974 by the local Christian school.

*Lynden, Washington's Holland Days festival is held the first weekend of every May. The two day festival highlights the area's Dutch heritage with parades filled with flowers, traditional song and dance, and Dutch markets.

*Holland, Michigan's Tulip Time festival is the largest tulip festival in the United States. For more information, see Tulip Time.

*Orange City, Iowa's Tulip Festival is celebrated annually on the 3rd weekend in May is held dear by Orange City's inhabitants with a flower show, an evening performance of a Broadway play, afternoon and evening parades, and street dancing by old and young alike. The festival begins on Wednesday for the locals and continues through Saturday drawing over 150,000 people.

*Pella, Iowa's Tulip Time festival, also celebrated in early May, began in 1935 in celebration of the town's heritage. It is a three day event that features street washing parades, costumed wooden shoe dancers, wooden shoe carving demonstrations, street vendors selling poffertjes and an antique Dutch street organ.

* The Skagit Valley, Washington tulip festival has been held every April since 1983. Featuring dozens of tulip and daffodil fields as well as display gardens, gift shops, and tour activities, this festival attract visitors of all ages.

*Woodburn, Oregon has been celebrating its Tulip Fest every year starting in March since 1986.

* Spalding (England) has an annual Tulip Parade that takes place on the first Saturday in May, and is a major tourist attraction, comprising a procession of floats on various themes, each decorated with tulip petals, a by-product of the bulb industry.

Origins

The tulip-festivals are being held in honour of the Dutch-American immigrants who brought the (then highly expensive) tulips to the Americas.

External links

* [http://timesunion.com/specialreports/tulipfestival/ Albany (NY) Tulip Festival]
* [http://www.tulipfestival.ca/ Canadian Tulip Festival]
* [http://www.tuliptime.com/ Holland's festival]
* [http://www.pellatuliptime.com/ Pella's festival]
* [http://www.octulipfestival.com/ Orange City's festival]
* [http://www.tulipfestival.org/ Skagit Valley Tulip Festival]
* [http://www.woodenshoe.com/springshow.html Woodburn, Oregon festival]
* [http://www.cityoffulton.us/dutchdays.php Fulton's Dutch Days Festival]
* [http://www.tulipfestival.com.au/ Tesselaar Tulip Festival Silvan Australia]
* [http://www.spaldingnet.com/spaldingtown/parade/index.html Spalding Flower Parade England]