Thirteen hundred people dressed in traditional Dutch costume have got to be on to something.

In Mid-May, Holland, MI hosted its event of the year: Tulip Time. I’m still recovering.  For the uninitiated, Tulip Time is a week-long festival of everything Dutch.  Everyone dons traditional costumes, complete with wooden shoes, and lines the streets while bouncing around arm-in-arm in a format known as Klompen dancing.  Klompen dancing is a high school sport in Holland, and they even have team jackets.  Had I grown up here, the jackets alone would have merited my participation.  Now that I live here, the combined sea of tulips and Dutch people keeps me looking.

The wooden shoes are just that, and each dancer wears around 8 pairs of socks to give sufficient padding as they pound the closed streets of our downtown metropolis. Thirteen hundred pairs of feet.  Thirteen hundred pairs of feet in eight pairs of socks and non-venting shoes. Thirteen hundred pairs of hot, sweaty goodness. Is their inner sock layer some sort of wick-away fabric?  Is this an opportunity to design performance clothing for niche local festivals?

Tulip Time is more than Klopmen.  It’s a trifecta that’s completed with Tulipalloza (real name), and a constant stream of high school bands and the range of fantastic uniforms that they are forced to wear.

Some people I’ve met here are adamant that they stay away from Holland during Tulip Time.  They have pride in their non-attendance.  I don’t get it.  I love Tulip Time.  This small town makes perfect sense for just this one week per year. Exposed Dutch everything plus miles of tulips that have been protected and manicured since December plus carnival food that looks like fried dough but is called an elephant ear (why?) plus Republicans!  How could you stay away during the week it all comes together?

Mid-week I sat in the outdoor seating of a restaurant downtown with some local friends and watched another round of Klompen.  One of my friends pointed out that Erik Prince’s mother was sitting right next to us in a soft pink sweater.  Remember Erik from that fun Blackwater scandal? Yes, he grew up in Holland and delivered this year’s Tulip Time keynote.

Like I said, it all comes together. Welkom back, Erik.