The longest-running tulip festival in the U.S. has humble origins. In the fall of 1927, Lida Rogers, a biology teacher at Holland High School, suggested a city beautification project in memory of Holland, Michigan’s founding: a city-wide tulip planting.
“[Rogers] petitioned and spoke to the city council, the mayor at that time, to see if they could get tulips planted in Holland as a celebration of [Dutch] heritage,” Chad Mesbergen, Tulip Time director of events and operations, said. “So that was planted, I believe it was the fall of 1928, and that following spring, 1929, is when the first bloom happened with 100,000 tulip bulbs.”
Now, every May, the city opens its doors to nearly 1 million tourists visiting the Tulip Time Festival. As they arrive, and for the entirety of the festival’s ten-day run time, Holland’s streets and historic regions are in bloom with 6 million tulips, whose bulbs are imported from the Netherlands and planted in a vast display of community.
One reason why Rogers’ idea has so successfully stuck around is because she shared a common point of origin with many of the town’s inhabitants. In the 1840s, Dutch immigrants emigrated from the Netherlands in response to the country’s dire economic circumstances and remained grouped together because of the close bonds formed by the Dutch Calvinist separatist church. In 1847, the Rev. Albertus Van Raalte purchased land for the settlement of Holland, altogether around 2,500 acres, which he later sold off to those immigrating to join him.
The Tulip Time festival has evolved over time to feature more than just the symbolic tulips. One of the most lively events of the festival, the children’s parade, showcases children in traditional Dutch costumes alongside marching bands and a community street scrubbing.
One of the most tightly bound communities that exists because of the festival is a performing group of Dutch dancers.
“Once you start Dutch dance, it’s kind of like riding a bike. You can dance once or twice in high school for a year or two and then not dance again through college and go get married, have kids and come back, and you will remember it year after year. My mom rejoined Dutch dance after not dancing for almost 40 years, a couple of years ago, and she came back without a problem,” Jenn Ryckbost, Dutch dance program coordinator at Tulip Time, said.
Ranging from an elementary school “kinderparade” group to a group of alumni dancers, they wear traditional Dutch costumes, as well as klompen — traditional clogs from the Netherlands. The costumes are made by local seamstresses, who use a traditional style to clothe the dancers.
“Each costume has probably 10 yards of fabric, so they can be heavy,” Ryckbost said. “The skirt costumes have at least 10 yards of fabric, multiple layers, petticoats, skirts, aprons, lots of fancy hooks and eyes and buttons. We don’t do any zippers, no elastic and velcro. So we use a very traditional way of sewing techniques, and a lot of the dancers have a family member, like a grandma or mom, sew their costumes.”
Although people from all backgrounds dance during the festival, many individuals embrace the activity because of a family connection.
“We really probably see that primarily in our Dutch dancers,” Mesbergen said. “They have that generational ‘my mom did it, my grandma did it, my aunts and uncles and all those people Dutch dance.’ So there’s a really big, deep, rooted Dutch heritage.”
While the city’s Dutch history is widely embraced, its cultural legacy continues to evolve. As Holland’s demographic makeup has changed over time — in 2024, Holland was 23.2% Hispanic — the Tulip Time Festival has also broadened to fit “things that are more current,” according to Michelle Stempien, executive director of the Holland Museum.
“The organization Latin Americans United for Progress, they host a multitude of events during tulip time, which really also highlight the Latinx culture that’s become entwined in Holland,” Stempien said. “It represents, I think, the best of Holland.”
As the city embraces its changing identity, it also seeks to capitalize on its heritage to draw in the international community interested in how Dutch influence has evolved in Michigan.
“The Association for the Advancement of Dutch Studies… is hosting its annual conference. And so these are Dutch scholars from all over the world, but particularly the Netherlands, that are coming here to present at this conference,” Stempien said. “And also we worked with a filmmaker, a Dutch filmmaker, who wanted to record some footage from our historic houses and the museum into a documentary that he’s been doing, and it’s actually a Dutch documentary which will have English subtitles.”
While the city’s heritage and natural beauty certainly serve as an inspiration for the hundreds of thousands of individuals who tour the city, it also benefits the local residents — especially artists who turn to local stories for inspiration.
“We do have a great art scene here in Holland,” Stempien said. “The artists around here are inspired by all kinds of things, but certainly the stories and heritage of Holland feed into their art.”
Two of the Holland Art Council’s May 2025 exhibits, “Celebrating Holland’s Diversity” and “Balladeer,” consist of physical paintings and banners being put on display downtown or in the arts center. For the first exhibit, the arts center collected local art pieces and turned them into banners around downtown Holland. For “Balladeer,” artist Anna Vinten-Johansen set about creating scenes of Dutch youth based on images of Dutch culture in the public archive, bringing new life to black-and-white inspiration photos.
As the Tulip Time festival draws close to one hundred years since its conception, it continues to be an enormous display of dedication by the people of Holland.
“I know Holland, after working here for a few years and meeting a lot of people who live here: Holland loves their history,” Stempien said. “It’s very important to them, and we are proud to be the people who are sharing that history with not only our own community, but with people who come to visit Holland.”
