HOLLAND, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – Nearly a year after the COVID 19 outbreak led the first cancellation of a Tulip Time Festival, organizers are continuing plans for a belated 91st renewal of Holland’s annual signature event.
While the festival announced on Tuesday more activities slated for the period of May 1st through the 8th, the biggest disclosure is that those activities are still on for then. The ongoing health situation, with current limitations on public gatherings placed by the state Department of Health and Human Services, led some to believe that a second straight postponement could be a possibility.
Indeed, some traditional activities such as parades down 8th Street, Dutch Dancing, and the carnival at the 8th Street Marketplace will again not be held, while a proposed Tulip Immersion Garden, originally set to be unveiled in 2020, will now not take place until 2022 at the earliest. National entertainment acts, such as the planned Gladys Knight concert that was a casualty of the outbreak last spring, will also not be scheduled for 2021.
What will be held in a scaled-down Tulip Time is a virtual Tulip Time Run, the return of dockside tours of the Michigan Maritime Museum tall ship “Friends Good Will,” the annual quilt raffle, “Yoga in the Tulips” at Window on the Waterfront, and a virtual Artisan Market. In addition, a display of festival posters over the past 40 years will be at the Holland Area Arts Council building; a scavenger hunt; and downtown walking tours will be held.
“Several other plans are still in development,” Tulip Time Festival Executive Director Gwen Auwerda said in a statement. “Watch for more information on drive-through food concessions, photography and floral arraigning classes, Princess Lida encounters, and specials offered by downtown businesses.
“A final determination by (MDHHS) on whether the Dutch Marktplaats and Dutch Dancing Costume Exhibit can take place in still pending.”
More information is available here.
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