Orange City, Iowa — The Orange City Tulip Festival is underway once again. As usual, the festival runs Thursday through Saturday.
Organizers tell us several old favorite activities and things to see are back and there are some new ones as well.
They say the Vogel Old Mill will be open every day, as will the Dutch Heritage Museum. They’ll have an antique tractor show, tours via horse-drawn trolley — the “Oranjestad Paardentram.” The Century Home opens each day at 9:30. There’s an ArtBurst on Friday and Saturday. Find many Dutch treasures at the Straatmarkt — the street market.
There are wooden shoe carving demonstrations, a carnival, a craft show, a quilt and flower show, a petting zoo, and much more.
Several performances are also available for you. Everything from the Dutch Dozen Performance to the Dutch Street Organ, to the bicycle singing group — the “Fietsen Zangers.” There’s also a drumline show. And of course the nightly performance of the musical, “Footloose” will delight audiences.
As usual, there are two parades every day at 1:00 and 6:00, starting with Straatfeest and Street Scrubbing at the early parade.
It all wraps up on Sunday morning at 11:00 with a community worship service.
Almost any imaginable food is available from food stands and other locations. Some of the Dutch specialties include the tiny butter-rum pancakes, known as “poffertjes,” the pigs-in-blankets, known as “saucijsjes”, Dutch Baby pancakes, and the almond paste pastry, known as Dutch letters.
This year marks the 83rd Orange City Tulip Festival.
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