01 OC Mag 01-24

PREPARATION |
Sowing
TEXT BY GEORGIA LODEWYK | PHOTOS SUBMITTED
THE SEEDS
for the Tulip Festival
The 83rd Tulip Festival May
16-18 is set to bring in an
estimated 100,000 visitors
to Orange City.
The parade, food, and vibrant
display of Dutch traditions puts
the Sioux County seat community
on the map for many out-of-state
guests, but the seemingly seamless
production to an outsider is the
result of hundreds of hours, and
months of planning, for many in
the city.
For many Tulip Festival volunteers,
the event is as present as
ever even when it is far in the future,
from the costumes to sew, tulips
to plant, and the queen’s court
to choose.
The tulips
Planting tulips is an art, one that
Nora Mulder has down to a science.
It starts in October; when the
fresh bulbs have been received
from the Netherlands, and the temperatures
are just at 60 degrees.
That’s when the weather is perfect
for planting the 15,000 bulbs in
Orange City’s downtown Windmill
Park, which serves as the center for
many Tulip Festival activities.
This year, a group of 20 volunteers
organized by Nora Mulder
and John Buntsma, took the lead
on planting them.
“The city fills up the dirt and gets
it ready for us,” Mulder said. “Then
we come in with little hand garden
tools, and we plant them about six
to eight inches deep.”
For Windmill Park, the volunteers
operate with the plan from
the Tulip Town Bulb Company, operated
by Keri and Dan Drescher.
The Dreschers provide instructions
on where to plant the different
tulip varieties, and volunteers
arrange them three inches apart.
These tulips account for nearly
one-third of Orange City’s estimated
50,000 tulip bulbs that are
planted each year.
20 OC MAGAZINE | SPRING 2024