How do you explain the Tulip Time Festival to someone who
doesn’t know anything about it?
As someone who came west to these shores more than 17½ years
ago, it’s a pertinent question, for mention Holland’s annual signature event to
those living “on the other side of the state,” one would get just a blank
stare, a “huh,” or the brushoff “It’s one of those Dutch things” remark.
I put that question before Tulip Time Festival Executive
Director Gwen Auwerda ahead of her ninth such celebration as its chief
operating officer and the 90
th
such renewal in the Tulip City. “We’re
celebrating our heritage and we’re representing what the Netherlands was like
in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s,” she began during our conversation this past
Monday. “That’s where the period dress comes from.
“We’re also celebrating our heritage in being inclusive of
all the community today, regardless of what your ethnicity is.
“So it’s just a celebration, looking at tulips and our
community, and the fact that we were settled by the Dutch years and years and
years ago.”
Frankly, it’s more of a labor than a love during these next
nine days because of all of the responsibilities we have to bring you the
parades and the news coverage. It’s more of a “whew” when it’s over, because we
don’t have a moment to stop and enjoy the festival as it happens, as many of
you will be able to do.
It’s probably the same for those who are involved in, say,
the Coast Guard Festival at Grand Haven in July, or what used to be known as
the Hudson’s Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit. If you’re involved in either
running the event or covering the event, it’s easy to look on it as just a job
that needs to be done, with a sense of relief when it’s over.
Hope you can enjoy the Tulip Time Festival …
Thanks!
