Tulip Time Announces the 2024 Festival Entertainment & Exhibition Line-up
HOLLAND, Mich.
October 18, 2023
Tulip Time Festival announces their festival entertainment line-up for the 95th Tulip Time Festival, occurring May 4th through 12th, 2024. Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. For complete details on all events, visit tuliptime.com/events.
New This Year
Tulip Time VIP Tour
Tulip Time is making it easier to explore the wonders of the festival with this "done-for-you" tour. Guests can purchase tickets for this motorcoach tour that will include a costumed guide, lunch, a VIP tour through the Tulip Immersion Garden, a tour of the city with stops at Hope College and Big Red Lighthouse, and time at Windmill Island Gardens. Guests and residents alike can see Holland and Tulip Time in ways they never have before.
Dutch Lunch and Dance Performance
Enjoy a traditional Dutch meal and a show! Dutch pea soup, pig in the blankets, and traditional Dutch slaw, an irresistible Dutch dessert, are on the menu. While you eat, the famous Dutch Dancers will perform their klompen dance in Dutch costumes and wooden shoes, a great way to experience a bit of Dutch culture.
International Exhibition
Tulip Immersion Garden
For two years, the Tulip Immersion Garden by Dutch horticulturist, Ibo Gulsen, wowed and delighted over 27,000 visitors. In 2024 the Tulip Immersion Garden returns to Beechwood Church where Gulsen will use over 65,000 tulips to create an unforgettable experience. Guests will have tulips brought up to their level allowing guests to marvel at their beauty and intricate detail. These tulips are raised and packed tightly together to create unforgettable photographs.
With the tulip displays and information panels, guests learn how the Dutch discovered the tulip in Turkey, brought it home, and eventually, the tulip came to Holland, Michigan to be celebrated by hundreds of thousands of people each year. For 2024, the Tulip Immersion Garden will include the tulip's significance in artwork and a Dutch souvenir shop.
Gulsen is the founder of Imagineering Horti Culture and played a large part in the return of the Istanbul Tulip to Turkey along with the Dutch consulate. Gulsen has crafted world-class immersion gardens including the Dafeng Holland Flower Park in Jiangsu, China, the Culture of Flowers Festival in Pyin Oo Lwin, Myanmar, and the World’s Largest Off-Season Tulip Show in Chongming Island, Shanghai.
Musical Entertainment
Scotty McCreery
Close your eyes and get lost in Scotty McCreery's soulful voice as he blends contemporary and traditional country in this unforgettable live experience. McCreery takes guests through life’s highs and lows through chart-topping hits "Five More Minutes," "Damn Strait," and "You Time," as well as current single “Cab in a Solo” and recent smash “It Matters to Her.” Don’t miss your chance to see Scotty McCreery live!
Dancing Queen: An ABBA Salute
Dancing Queen: An ABBA Salute is the ultimate tribute to the music of ABBA – sure to capture the hearts of fans and audiences of all ages! This live show is full of musical precision, fabulous flair, and fashion, and promises a mesmerizing ABBA experience for every Chiquitita, Super Trouper, Fernando, and Dancing Queen around!
Fronted by a dynamic Agnetha and Frida duo, the music of the greatest pop band in history comes to life in a joyful celebration of these timeless tunes. Dancing Queen: An ABBA Salute is the Midwest’s long-standing resident ABBA tribute, with a repertoire of over 40 all-time favorite hits. From Waterloo to Mamma Mia, S.O.S. to Knowing Me, Knowing You, Honey, Honey to Voulez-Vous, audiences won’t be able to help singing and dancing along with their high-energy homage to everything ABBA!
The Texas Tenors
The Texas Tenors invite you to celebrate a huge milestone with them... 15 years together! On their 15th Anniversary Tour you will hear new music along with rousing patriotic favorites and everything from Country to Classical! Come and celebrate with the boys and make some new and lasting memories at a concert experience you'll never forget.
FiddleFire
Built from members and friends of the musical Panning Family, FiddleFire returns to share their exceptional talent, humor, and charm with sold-out crowds. This band performs a virtuosic variety of genres with its own folksy twist, with diverse instrumentation including fiddles, guitar, bass, mandolin, percussion, and percussive clogging! You’ll feel like a part of the family during this entertaining evening full of foot-stomping, fiddling, and light-hearted storytelling.
American Legion Band
The musicians of the Holland American Legion Band have performed around the country and the world. This concert includes pillars from the concert band literature, a patriotic salute to our armed forces and music that shows off the virtuosity of these talented musicians. It's so popular that we've added a second show.
Dutch Organ Music Concert
The earliest organ music was composed and played in the Netherlands in the 15th century. That tradition has not stopped. Rhonda Sider Edgington, Organist and Music Director at Hope Church and a traveling concert organist, will share with the audience Dutch organ music from across the centuries. Sider Edgington intersperses the music with fun and informative commentary, helping her audience understand and appreciate the music on another level.
Local Art & Culture
Tulip Time is pleased to announce the Local Arts & Culture Series for the 2024 Tulip Time Festival. Each year, several of Holland’s cultural organizations collaborate with Tulip Time to create an array of entertainment for festival visitors.
Community Dutch Dance Lessons
The community and guests are invited to come and learn to Step, Brush, Hop with experienced Dutch Dancers leading the way. Participants will be shown some beginner moves of Dutch Dance to take home and show off to their friends and family!
Historical Walking Tours
Tulip Time celebrators will have the opportunity to learn about the history of Holland, its’ Dutch heritage, and its vibrant present on this walking tour developed by Tulip Time. Costumed guides will show guests around the historical sites of Holland, providing an up-close visit to many sites and icons that make up our wonderful city. Participants will see many of the tulip displays and will have numerous photo opportunities with magnificent tulips. The tour is a one-hour experience, and each participant will be given a personal set of headphones, allowing them to hear their tour guide clearly at all times.
Most of the tour is wheelchair accessible, except for some stairs and accommodations can be arranged.
Art in Bloem Fine Art Showcase
Enjoy a stroll through 20 pieces of fine art created specifically for the Tulip Time Festival poster contest, including the official 2024 Tulip Time Festival poster winner, and see Holland’s rich culture and diversity on display at the Holland Civic Center Place. Next to these 20 pieces of contemporary art, traditional Dutch costumes will be on display for patrons to study up close.
Tall Ship Dockside Tour
Step back in time to the year 1810 as you board Friends Good Will, a replica topsail sloop. The original Friends Good Will sailed the Great Lakes as a merchant vessel before being captured by the British during the War of 1812. Visitors will learn about the history of the fur trade and commerce on the Great Lakes during Friends Good Will's active days as well as its role in the War of 1812. Costumed crewmembers will be giving dockside tours of this historic tall ship visiting Holland from the Michigan Maritime Museum. The boat is moored on the north wall dock at Boatwerks restaurant for the festival.
Tulip Time Run
Runners from all over the Midwest will gather at the lakeside Kollen Park in Holland to wait for the starting gun. Runners will run through the historic tulip lanes and see Holland in ways they have never seen before. This run offers a 10k, a 5k, and a Kid’s Fun Run option for runners of all ages and skill levels. The run will take place on Saturday, May 4th, 2024. Registration is open at TulipTime.com/run.
Tulip Time Artisan Market
The annual Artisan Market brings together over two hundred vendors to highlight their artisanship and sell unique, hard-to-find items. Guests can walk through the market and adore handmade items at each vendor. Vendors are carefully selected and screened by Tulip Time to ensure they are high-quality. The Artisan Market will be hosted at the spacious Ottawa County Fairgrounds on Ottawa Beach Road in Holland.
On Golden Pond
This is the love story of Ethel and Norman Thayer, returning to their summer home on Golden Pond for their forty-eighth year.
Norman, a retired professor nearing eighty, maintains his wit despite health issues, while Ethel, ten years younger, complements him with her appreciation for life's simple pleasures. Their daughter and her fiancé visit, then leave for Europe, entrusting the fiancé's teenage son to Norman and Ethel. The boy becomes the grandchild they've longed for, teaching them about modern teenage life. As summer fades, a mild heart attack brings Norman and Ethel closer. Despite time's passage, their bond remains strong, hinting at the possibility of another summer on Golden Pond.
Quilt Show
The Tulip Time Quilt Show will put West Michigan quilters’ artistry on display for all to appreciate at Midtown Center in Holland. Over 100 exquisite quilts will be hung for patrons to enjoy up close. Every cut, every stitch, and every pattern will showcase the quilter’s skill and experience in an increasingly rare craft. The Quilt Show will also play host to the annual Quilt Raffle. Participants will be able to purchase tickets for a chance to win a one-of-a-kind quilt, made specifically to commemorate this year's festival.
Floral Arranging Class
Huisman Flowers’ award-winning floral designers teach the art of floral arranging as guests create their masterpieces to take home. The classes take place at their beautiful Holland flower shop location where you can browse through a vast assortment of occasion-themed gifts.
Street Parades
Gentex Kinderparade
The Gentex Kinderparade (children’s parade) is a time-honored favorite. On Thursday, May 9th, 2024, people from near and far will be invited to don their Dutch costumes, grab a bucket and a broom, and scrub the streets clean for the coming performances. Elementary school children will line up in costumes with smiling faces as they march together through downtown Holland. Each school and grade will have its theme that nods to the town's Dutch heritage, from Dutch agriculture to the Dutch Master’s painters.
Quality Car Wash Volksparade
The Quality Car Wash Volksparade (people's parade) will be big and bold. Dozens of bands from West Michigan middle and high schools showcase their talents amid the community floats through downtown Holland. The Quality Car Wash Volksparade parade will be on Saturday, May 11th, 2024.
Experience Tulip Time’s Bikes & Blooms at the 95th Festival, May 4 – 12, 2024. Detailed program and event information for Tulip Time Festival 2024 and tickets are available at www.TulipTime.com.
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