Tulip Festival 2018

Hello! The local tulip festival has just ended, so now it's time to show off some scenes from this big annual event. Although a myriad of activities take place during the festival, all my photos are from the three parades: Volksparade (open to anyone in Dutch costume), Kinderparade (local schoolchildren march in Dutch costume while using props with Dutch themes) and Muziekparade (emphasis on marching bands; the biggest parade of the three).

So here goes!

Street scrubbers in action.

Yes, there's even Dutch costumes for dogs! 

The Holland High School marching band struts down the street in wooden shoes. 

From the Kinderparade:

A "Dutch Art" theme: the sunflowers represent Van Gogh's famous painting.

This class is carrying banners from two of the 11 towns on the 11 Town ice skating race. 

And lastly, from the Muziekparade:

Our vantage point for watching the Muziekparade is along one of the city's "Tulip Lanes" (miles of tulips planted along select streets), so these beauties were right in front of my curbside seat. Nice!

A magnificent set of Clydesdales from the folks at Employment Express.

Always a crowd-pleaser: the Petoskey Steel Drum Band! 

Another crowd-pleaser: one of several old cars that appeared in this parade. 

And speaking of older vehicles, this cart-like wagon was recently restored in time to be pulled in the parade. The Holland Furnace Company was an early sponsor of the Tulip Festival.

I believe this was a new entry in the parade: Sam the Wheeler. Somehow, this guy flipped up and down on this contraption as it moved down the streets of the parade route. Don't know how he managed to avoid falling off! This was pretty cool to see.

More views of the local high school marching band:

The color guard, in Dutch costumes - and wooden shoes, of course!

Another view of the marching band. By now (they're in all three parades), I imagine they're a little tired of marching in wooden shoes. 

Well, like I said, now the Tulip Festival is all over, so they can put away their wooden shoes - until next year!