Orange City, Iowa — The 80th Orange City Tulip Festival opens Thursday and it’s expected to draw tens of thousands of visitors to town over its three-day run. Last year’s event was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Mike Hofman, executive director of the Orange City Chamber of Commerce, says people are excited to join in the celebration of Dutch heritage and despite the cool snap, the tulips are in full bloom.
Having a year off allowed the festival volunteers to get busy and upgrade many of the floats that will appear in the parades.
There will be two parades daily for each of the three days. There will also be street dancing and street washing, per tradition. Hofman says the costumes for this year’s evening productions of “Cinderella” are all brand new.
The festival, which runs through Saturday, will also feature a carnival, a car show, a 5-K run, and demonstrations on how to carve wooden shoes. For more information on this weekend’s Orange City Tulip Festival, visit octulipfestival.com.
