Tulip TIme!

Tulip admirers in Centennial Park, Holland, MI.

 Our trip to Grand Rapids coincided with the annual Tulip Time festival in nearby Holland, so we stopped to see as many blooming flowers as possible.

 There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of tulips in Holland each spring because of the city's ties to the Netherlands.  A Michigan travel guide says the flowers took hold when local government officials bought 100,000 tulip bulbs in 1928.

 The flowers are nurtured and grown in larger numbers now.  There are several places offering to mail bulbs so enthusiasts can plant their favorite variety.

Centennial Park is awash in color each spring.

The festival appears to close to attracting one person for each spring plant on display.  We drove by a lot of flowers but the only place I could get out was Centennial Park.

Even then, temporary 'no parking' signs indicated we could only park until 4:30 when we would have to find another place to park.  

Thankfully I was able to get my shots in just a few minutes.

A large number of people migrated to the United States from the Netherlands, bringing their Dutch heritage with them.  The festival celebrates all things Dutch, including wooden shoes which are available for purchase.

Tulips are ready for shooting.  Pix 5/13/22 dwm

  Our stop at Holland was near the end of the festival which experienced unusually hot weather mid-week that took a toll on the flowers hit by the afternoon sun.

  In the best of times, tulips grace us with a few days of beauty.

  That's why we celebrate spring.  The greening of the earth; explosion of leaves; and bursting of color quickly becomes old hat.  It's the newness which makes it special and noticeable.

  The tulips may only look great a few days but the attractions available in Holland offer a season of fun.