Tulip Time Festival

Every year, the millions of tulips planted in parks and gardens and lanes around Holland, Michigan, draw thousands of visitors from all over the world. The annual tradition is celebrated with parades, a carnival, dancers, concerts, arts and crafts fair, trolley tours, and much more.

Tulip festivals like this one are held in many cities around the United States that were founded by Dutch settlers. The festival in Holland, by far one of the biggest festivals of this kind, has taken place in mid-May for more than 80 years. now. The Tulip Time Festivals was named the best small town festival in America by Reader's Digest in 2004.

The festival's roots date all the way back to 1927, when Lida Rogers, a biology teacher at Holland High School, suggested that the town adopt the tulip as its official flower. The next year, the city council approved funding to bring in 100,000 tulip bulbs directly from the Netherlands and have them planted in all of Holland's parks.