Tulip Time!

The Sioux County Courthouse in Orange City all decked out with beautiful tulips

Well, it's Tulip Time here in the OC, which means that everyone is breaking out all of their Dutch costumes and prettying up their lawns getting ready for the Tulip Festival. It's quite the big ordeal. The carnival rides started arriving on Tuesday and are set up on one end of Central Avenue (our main downtown street) and the OC street department has been setting up all of the bleachers along the rest of Central getting ready for the parades. You might think I'm making this up, but I'm not. It's really pretty neat. I enjoyed my first Tulip Festival last year and it was very fun. There are tons of yummy food booths, some with special Dutch treats like sauciejes (aka-pigs in a blanket) and poffertjies (yummy Dutch "donuts" with powdered sugar). And the parade goes on twice a day, but the fun one is in the afternoon when they do the street sweeping. That's where everyone who dresses up in their Dutch costumes walks down the street with their brooms and buckets and literally "washes" the streets so they are clean for the Tulip Queen and her court. Crazy, but fun! The festivities begin tomorrow and run through Saturday, so we'll be busy enjoying parades and food. I'll take lots of pictures and post them for you. Click here if you want more info on the Orange City Tulip Festival.