Haylie: Rock kick down [Laughter] I'm Hailie Robinson and I'm a former fair queen full of wanderlust.

I explore arts, culture, community, heritage, history and more.

One festival at a time.

I invite you to join me in finding festivals.

VO: Finding festivals is brought to you in part by Finding festivals is brought to you in part by Find some Lake Erie Love?

It's a SHORE thing!

Learn how at SHORESandISLANDS.com and start an adventure today.

Toledo.

More than you ever imagined.

Learn more at visittoledo.org.

Haylie: If you're from the area, this may look familiar to you.

Behind me is Big Red and we're in Holland, Michigan.

Since 1929, the city of Holland, Michigan, has celebrated its Dutch heritage in early May.

Over 100 tulip varieties make up the sea of vibrant colors throughout the city.

Windmill Island Gardens is a popular destination during tulip time, with over 150,000 tulips to gaze at.

After snapping some photos for social media, I ran into Gwen, who shared the story of how it all began.

Gwen Auwerda: Lida Rogers was a biology teacher at the local high school in 1927, and she was realized that most of the students in her classroom came from Dutch settlers or of Dutch descent.

So she had an idea to plant tulips.

100,000 tulips was her goal, so she had to pitch the idea.

For a couple of years, the Women's Literary Club, the City Council.

And finally they said, okay, we'll do that.

Planted 100,000 tulips in the fall of 1928, 1929.

They bloomed and the festival from there began.

That brings in 500,000 people over the nine days and the community itself has residents of 35,000.

So you kind of look at the scale and the numbers and it's it's a really big task to be able to pull this off and have everybody on the same page.

We have over 1000 volunteer opportunities.

We could not put this festival on without those 1000 volunteers and many people who work all week long.

So they'll fill a spot every day and it's just really special that the community comes out and embraces the festival, embraces sharing this lovely community with our guests.

And then that's really neat.

Haylie: And what a way to, like celebrate spring and kick off summer.

Right, Exactly.

Like nine hole days.

Oh, my gosh.

What a party.

Gwen Auwerda: It is a party.

I said, how many people can work for 51 weeks a year to plan a party that lasts nine days and you invite 500,000 of your favorite friends and family.

I mean, what else is there?

Haylie: I love that analogy.

That's fantastical.

After climbing a few flight of stairs.

Well, this felt like more than just a few.

I'm greeted with a beautiful view of the gardens at the top of the De Zwaan, which is the only authentic Dutch windmill in the United States.

In addition to the views this windmill still operates.

Matt Helmus: when it's working, it's working, and the building itself kind of pulses and shakes and there's flour going around in the air.

Haylie: So where does the flour go once it's produced?

Matt Helmus: We sell it all on site.

We've done some one off projects with breweries and bakeries in the past, but usually we can't produce it fast enough.

And package it.

packaging is the biggest thing is everyone wants to buy these nice little tourist bags.

Not a big £50 sack like they would have used to put it in.

So packaging takes awhile, but it's all sold here on site.

Haylie: Wow.

So in addition to making it on site and touring the windmill and seeing the engineering that goes into it, you can also take a little bit home and get the flavor of Windmill Island.

Matt Helmus: You can.

Yeah, Haylie: I love that.

What a great way to extend your experience here.

How many visitors on on average do you see annually?

Matt Helmus: We get about 150,000 people a year.

We're open as a park six months a year.

We're open through April.

Through October?

Yeah.

And then half of them decide to come in these ten days.

And that's why I tell people, if you want good crowds and tulips now, if you want less crowds, come out.

Other times, Haylie: what is tulip time mean for you?

Matt Helmus: So tulip time to me really means it's it's the time our community comes back alive in the spring.

Tulip time is kind of our first year.

We open a couple of weeks early to get staff trained, but tulip time is the first flood of visitors that we get here.

People from out of town come back in the town, people who are visiting come into town.

The town just lights up.

The tulips are beautiful in bloom and the community just absolutely comes alive.

It's a great way to kick off our year.

Some communities have kind of year ending celebrations, ours.

It's really the beginning of the year kicks back off.

The snow is usually gone by now and we can just enjoy spring and summer and new growth.

It's just an awesome time to start the year.

Haylie: I'm not much of a baker, but Matt did mention another wheat based product I like.

Big Lake Brewing has been making local craft brews since 2013 and this year they captured the taste of the festival with their tulip time.

Jeff Genova: It's our ten year anniversary.

we wanted to do something really big.

And we thought, What's really big in Holland?

While the Tulip Festival is the biggest thing in Holland, 500,000 people come to a 30,000 person town and take over with millions of tulips all over.

So we partnered with Tulip Time.

What better way to display what we do?

And what they do is the poster art on a can and our wonderful beer in that case Haylie: What kind of creation process of that?

I'm sure it is back and forth, but like, was there a lot of tasting or Jeff Genova: so we did some tastings.

Our brewer Zach Dreyer, has been doing this.

He home brewed for many years before he became our head brewer.

Five years ago, and he came up with a bunch of different ideas and we tried it in-house first and then we came up with a couple samples for Tulip time to try and we all agreed on this one spring lager with Tangerine that it's a light, it's a refreshing beer, and it's something that everyone can drink.

It's not like an IPA or a stout or a sour or something that's off the wall.

It's just a nice mainstream beer that everyone can enjoy.

And it has been wildly popular because we're sold out and most everywhere in town it's already sold out.

Haylie: Wow.

So you need to brew more for next year's.

What I'm hearing, Jeff Genova: we're going to brew at least twice that much next year.

Haylie: You've been talking this up.

My mouth is watering.

Should we give us the pour?

Jeff Genova: Well pour you up some Haylie: what do you love most about your job?

Jeff Genova: Talking about beer.

All we're doing is talking to people.

And I love talking about beer.

And it's warm out here in this beer is a little warm, so you're going to have a little head on there.

Haylie: So the important part is the smell it, right?

Jeff Genova: Have a good smell.

Haylie: that does smell very springy.

And light I like it.

It is light.

It's refreshing.

Jeff Genova: Yeah.

Haylie: You can taste the tanginess of the the tangerine, but it's not, Jeff Genova: it's not overpowering.

Haylie: No, it's not.

It's not potent in any way.

So if you're not a big citrus person, I mean, anyone really could drink this.

Jeff Genova: So when you have a beer like this, the tangerine complements the beer.

It doesn't.

It's like it's not like you're drinking orange juice.

Haylie: Holland, Michigan has a walkable downtown.

During tulip time, visitors can go at their own pace or join a walking tour.

Linda Kaiser: He wasn't allowed to practice his faith as he would choose, so that was the main reason they left.

But it was also bad economic times in the Netherlands at that time in the 1840s and also was the great potato famine.

Now mostly when we think of that, we think of Ireland, but it also crossed over to the mainland of Europe and it and so the potatoes in the Netherlands were affected.

Haylie: So when it comes to the tour, I know it's kind of one big triangle.

What is your favorite stop to talk about?

Linda Kaiser: Oh, I'm a history girl.

So we stop at the oldest building in Holland, Michigan, which is Pillar church, and that's probably my favorite stop.

So yeah, so construction was completed in 1856 and you can tell why it's called Pillar Church.

You see those beautiful six big pillars right in front, but it looks majestic and beautiful, doesn't it?

It's a beautiful place.

Haylie: And what is your favorite part of Tulip time?

Linda Kaiser: Oh, well, I love tulips, but I love the Dutch culture.

My parents are both from the Netherlands.

My dad came here in 1951 and my mom in 1962.

And so just celebrating that culture is what I love.

So tulips and the food and all of it.

Haylie: Walking tours isn't the only option for history lovers.

Tulip City Brewstillery Guides Craft Beer connoisseurs through a tasteful history lesson of Holland, Michigan.

Alexandria Darland: We are starting with a classic American lager.

This is the Veld beer endearingly named after Vern Veldheer from Veldheer tulip farm.

Yes, the veldheer tulip farm is the largest collection of tulips in the Holland area.

They have millions of tulips.

Vern Veldheer started the tulip farm as a hobby farm in 1950.

And what he started with was just 400 tulips.

And that has grown literally to millions of tulips.

Both: Cheers.

Haylie: Oh, and it was almost like a little like a, I want to say, spice, but it does taste like if Grandma's kitchen was a beer, that's what it tastes like.

Alexandria Darland: Oh, my God.

Haylie: I don't know how to explain it.

Like, I get, like, tastes like spices in there.

That was nice.

Alexandria Darland: We need to rewrite our menu right now.

It tastes like nostalgia.

There you go.

I love that.

Haylie: Next up is the wooden shoe like an IPA.

Wait a minute.

Wooden Shoe like an IPA?

Alexandria Darland: Wooden shoe like an IPA?

Haylie: Wooden shoe like a IPA?

Yes, I like that.

Alexandria Darland: Yes, Yes, I would do that for a good.

Yeah.

So that is a, you know, that beautiful transition to the wooden shoe like an IPA.

It tastes better when you're wearing wooden shoes but it's pretty darn good in flats too.

Haylie: When then we have this hop college.

Alexandria Darland: Yes.

Hope College is the college that is ingrained with the town.

It has a history almost as old as the town.

But we refer to our relationship with Hope College as a town and gown relationship.

And it's beautiful.

You can you can't tell where the campus and the city begins.

So Haylie: I like that.

Alexandria Darland: I'm glad Haylie: it's smooth and I dont want to say juicy, but Alexandria Darland: no, you definitely say juicy Yes, I would like to hear.

Yeah, this is actually a double IPA.

So.

Haylie: wait, so this is a double IPA, but I like it.

I know.

Isn't that... Alexandria Darland: See we tricked you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Haylie: And then our last one is actually a porter.

Alexandria Darland: This is the Collin Park Porter.

The Collin Park was the original site of the King Basket factory, and Mrs. Collin wanted to donate that land to the city in particular to the children, so that they would have a beautiful waterfront park to enjoy.

Haylie: Oh, I do like a good porter.

Alexandria Darland: I do, too.

Haylie: It's like coffee Beer.

Alexandria Darland: Exactly.

It's like what I wish breakfast to be having.

Yes.

Haylie: The best history lesson I've ever had.

Alexandria Darland: Oh, I'm so glad.

Haylie: cheers to the community.

Traditions and good causes.

Alexandria Darland: Yes, indeed.

Cheers to that.

Haylie: With some background on the city's heritage and a little courage, I connected with Jenn for a crash course on Dutch dancing.

But first I had to dress the part wooden shoes and all.

I am in the traditional garment that you would find in the Netherlands, right?

Jenn Ryckbost: Yes.

Unpack this for me a little bit.

Yes.

You are wearing what's called the walker in costume.

You actually have in a retired version of this costume.

It got reworked in 2018.

And now our middle school dancers wear it Hayllie: and we have a few layers.

So let's go layer by layer.

Jenn Ryckbost: First you will have a petticoat, which is probably changed every day.

Then you'll have your navy skirt, then you have your apron over top, your checked apron.

That will also get changed every day because it's most likely to get worn and like super dirty.

You're washing your hands, messing with your kids.

It's going to get dirty.

You're going to want to change it every day.

But the top that you're wearing up top with your floral will also get washed once a week as well.

Haylie: Is that where we got our messy eating or if you kind of drop it?

Jenn Ryckbost: Yes, it's like a bib.

Haylie: What's the correct term bonnet?

Jenn Ryckbost: Yes, the hat.

The hat.

Haylie: The hat.

There were these kissers.

Jenn Ryckbost: Yes.

Haylie: And if there there up... Jenn Ryckbost: faced up the springs or faced up, that meant you were married.

If they were pointed down, they mean you are unmarried and you would hang jewels from them to show your dowry, your wealth.

Haylie: Oh, now we're the kissers in addition to your traditional marital ring.

Or was that in lieu of Jenn Ryckbost: it was in lieu of.

Yeah, they would they would not wear rings on their hands.

That was definitely not something they did.

They worked really hard with their hands.

So they showed everything up here.

Even hats in all of our other costumes show marriage and wealth as well.

Haylie: So how would one start their dance Jenn Ryckbost: our first step that we do is called a step brush hop.

So you will step with your right foot, put your weight on your right foot, brush your shoes together, and then jump on your right foot.

Yep.

So you kind of brush it in like a standing motion and jump.

Yep.

And then you put your next foot down and do the same on the foot.

Step brush, hop.

So should we do it again?

So right brush.

Left brush.

Right brush.

Left brush.

Run, run, run together.

Haylie: And you clicktogether?.

Jenn Ryckbost: We do.

We like to click our shoes as much as possible.

It's kind of like Dorothy.

Haylie: It's all coming back.

Jenn Ryckbost: Yes.

And then our last couple moves, which is one of my favorites, because its the end of our end bow.

So we will start with our right foot and we're going to run, run, run, and we're going to jump up with her knee and we're going to run, run, run, jump over there, another knee.

We're going to kick left, right, left, bow.

Oh, that's my favorite.

Haylie: I was expecting to do something up at you.

You finish down the finish, pose Jenn Ryckbost: finished down.

We present our shoes, step brush, hop, step, brush.

hop, step, Brush hop brush hop.

Run, run, run together.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

Left, back, kick, rack and kick.

Now the end.

Right, left, right, knee, left, right, left, knee, step, kick step, kick and bow.

Well, you made it.

You did great.

Haylie: Well, thank you.

Jenn Ryckbost: Thank you.

Haylie: Before my wooden shoe goes flying off.

I'm going to leave this to the pros.

Nearly 800 dancers from youth to adult age flood the block around Centennial Park and dance for your loved ones and visitors during tulip time.

Walking around Centennial Park, there's a certain colored brick road that stands out among the rest of the walkways.

Rumor has it a famous author vacationed in the area.

Linda Hart: The author of The wonderful Wizard of Oz, Frank Baum.

Yes.

He vacationed here.

He had a cottage here.

Sign of the goose on Lake Macatawa There is an outdoor art exhibit with life size, bronze sculptures and a living mosaic book.

Haylie: Rumor has it Holland inspired some of the writings in that Yes series.

Linda Hart: Yes.

Yes.

So we don't claim that he wrote that story here, because there's a lot of other communities that want to claim that.

We just say that some of his inspiration came here.

It's a great historic, classic story.

And I remember watching it growing up and I know a lot of a lot of folks who have children, who have grandchildren want to reintroduce that story.

So, you know, that's all part of our public art.

Haylie: But in that art exhibit, it goes a step further.

And you even have a yellow brick road like we can we as Dorothy lovers, can live our inner child dreams and walk down the yellow brick road.

Linda Hart: That's exactly right.

We did that as a fundraiser.

You know, we thought we might sell you know, 100 bricks to see if we would.

You know, it was amazing.

We had people from all over the country and all over the world purchase a bridge to help fund the project.

There are if you walk through the yellow brick road, you can reach some of the inscriptions.

It's so heartfelt to know, just like you, if you loved that story, it was a great inspiration for us.

So two parts of the sculpture.

One has a living mosaic book that comes in that comes out after two of time because it's living annuals.

We don't want to take the risk of having any of those get damaged by any potential frost.

But the life sized bronze sculptures, I mean, they're huge to see the kids just it's just amazing.

It's a great exhibit.

We're very proud of it.

We are really, really proud of our community.

I love Holland.

I really do.

Haylie: While I'm here.

I might as well.

One, two, three.

What I've found hasn't fantasized skipping down the yellow brick road.

A dream come true with the vibrant colors of the tulips.

I understand how Frank Baum may have drawn some inspiration from the area.

Holland may be founded by Dutch settlers.

But I'm curious, is the tulip native to the Netherlands?

Ibo G ülsen: Because, you know, the appreciation for flowers has been thousands of years in different cultures around the world, especially the tulip.

You know, as history goes back at least 300 B.C.

and it's it originated in Central Asia, and their Turkic tribes took it to Turkey and then they started to create really cultural appreciation of the tulip.

And when the first exchanges between the East and the West in the 16th century, the tulip arrived in Europe, the Netherlands, and then the Dutch took it from there, basically all over the world, including Holland, Michigan.

So we are part of the shape of the turban, you know, to where the tulip got its name from the Ottoman sultans were these big white addresses, the turban.

And we use these Ottoman patterns as they have a lot of tulips they use in their ceramic decorations.

And the moment you walk through this, you're you're part of it.

You're not only looking at tulips, but you're surrounded by tulips.

And when you take pictures from certain from different angles, you have there's like in the middle of a big field of acres wide.

But it's just maybe on a square foot.

Haylie: So what got you into this art form?

Yeah.

Ibo G ülsen: So it's really what you see.

We we create combinations.

So it's not only one variety.

One variety.

We really want to create different color combinations.

We also add fragments to it by combining tulips with with hyacinths.

And we managed to basically force everything into bloom for the opening date.

So everything is in bloom at the same time.

And then it's still up to Mother Nature, but it's holding so well this year.

So we get so many people out here in the square and this is the layout of the botanical garden of of Leiden, where the first tulips were planted in 1593 by a Dutch botanist.

And like I said, 40 years later, we had tulip mania, you know, and everybody was crazy about tulips and some tulip bulbs were supposedly to sell for the price of a house.

And then of course, people find out, all right, there's actually nobody willing to pay that much.

Then it's collapsed.

But that was the first record of stock stock crash, so to say.

Haylie: What was it about the tulip that just made the Dutch just gravitate to it?

Ibo G ülsen: They they were wild about.

It's perfect symmetry, I would say, because it's very compact flower.

It has a big cup.

Haylie: So we start in like the Central Asia area and we work our way Ibo G ülsen: to turkey to the Netherlands and then to Holland, Michigan.

Yeah, Haylie: So here we are.

Ibo G ülsen: So we are we create an installation here based on the shape of the logo of the City of Holland, and we use the artwork off of previous festivals and it's a story about Holland and how it all started in 1927 when a high school teacher, Lida Rogers thought, you know, we should celebrate our Dutch heritage and plant tulips And that's how it all started.

And it's been running ever since the world's oldest tulip festival.

Haylie: That's incredible.

Ibo G ülsen: And it's amazing to see how it's really established a unique identity, I would say, among all the tulip festivals.

So it's not only looking at a bunch of tulip, but it's really part of a bigger story that they celebrate here.

Haylie: Wow.

We're so happy to have you here in the Midwest sharing your art with us.

Ibo G ülsen: Yeah, No, it's it's feels how it feels.

Home.

Yeah.

Haylie: Tulips are what started it all, But it's clear how the festival has evolved.

A local attraction shares a similar story In the 1930s, the Nelis Tulip farm became a hotspot for tourists, and by 1952, the family shifted the business to tourism.

Joeseph Nelis: In the early fifties, the highway went through and then my grandpa realized he had property at a tulip farm about five miles away from here, and we had a tulip farm.

That was the first part of the family business and there was always traffic jams going off, you know, to get to this tulip farm.

And so when they put the highways through after World War Two, my grandpa was like, we want to be out by the highway.

So they were going to move the tulip farm here and this was going to be a nice tulip farm.

But the soil was completely different and they grew way better five miles away from here than they did here.

And so my grandpa was like, Well, we're just going to keep it to a farm where it is.

But we realized that we opened up a building with a windmill on the top in 1958, that cars just turned in all season long, all summer long.

And we kind of stumbled into, you know, the tourism business, as it were, for for the entire season.

Haylie: And, you know, you had mentioned that it is a generational family place.

I mean, how often do you get those stories of parents and even maybe grandparents sharing those memories with their family?

Joeseph Nelis: Yeah, it happens quite a bit.

We've got a old store over here and we literally have three generations of families taking pictures in that store now.

And that's like my grandparents were, you know, and then right on down.

So yeah.

Haylie: Oh, my gosh, that's got to be so delightful for you to see that.

Joeseph Nelis: Yeah, it's kind of fun.

Haylie: So what is your favorite part of your job?

Joeseph Nelis: Honestly, it's just seeing people enjoying themselves every day.

You know, when I see a group of people walking up to the entrance gate and it's grandma and grandpa, Mom and dad and 2.2 kids, one still in a stroller, you know, I think all we got to do is get out of their way.

They're going to have a great day.

So if we do everything right, they're just going to have a great time and leave.

You know, when they're leaving, they're talking about coming back and when they're going to come back again.

So that's that's a perfect day for me right there.

Haylie: Neilis Dutch Village is a combination of fun and education from fudge making coffee made with imported Royal Dutch Cocoa.

We have to taste like royalty and which you demonstrations to animals and Dutch dancing.

It's easy to spend an entire day here.

There's one more thing I have to try before I go.

I was in person.

I was reckless.

I thought that was so cool.

Heritage history and vibrant colors are some of the many reasons tourists flock to Holland, Michigan annually, whether it's tulip time or a weekend getaway, Holland will remain a vivid landscape in my mind.

I look forward to the next festival we find you can visit finding festivals dot com to learn more about the series, get updates through the digital newsletter and connect with me on social media where you can access more content on festival fun.

I had a different outfit, but I wasn't ready to play.

Woman 1: I think you should keep them out all day.

It's lovely you match the tulips Man 1It stopped rainingby the way, so you don't need to use your umbrella.

Maybe.

Woman 2: No, it is not water.

It is a no, no, no.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Haylie: How many photographs not be options?

Yeah.

Opportunity to use.

Yeah, yeah.

Instagrammable shots.

Let's just call it what it is.

Man 2: Absolutely.

Woman 3: Look in your own backyard.

Haylie: Yeah.

It's so much to do.

Absolutely.

I have a whole show about it.

That'll be fun if I start with.

Yeah, I.

You're giving me such great bloopers.

I appreciate Finding festivals is brought to you in part by Find some Lake Erie Love?

It's a SHORE thing!

Learn how at SHORESandISLANDS.com and start an adventure today.

Toledo.

More than you ever imagined.

Learn more at visittoledo.org.