(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa city’s celebration of its Dutch heritage that began with a small flower show in 1936 continues, as the 85th Orange City Tulip Festival begins tomorrow (Thursday) and runs through Saturday. The parades at 2 and 6 p.m. every day attract lots of visitors to see the traditional costumes and street scrubbing, but festival chair Jennie Droog says there are all sorts of ways to explore Orange City’s connection to the Netherlands throughout the day.
“You can take a horse drawn trolley tour of town or visit the Dutch American Heritage Museum, visit the century home,” Droog said. “…You’ll see wooden shoe carving and the organ will be playing — all that fun stuff.” The Dutch Street Organ was built in Paris in the early 1900s, shipped to the U.S. in 1950 for a Netherlands Trade Fair in Pennsylvania and then purchased by the Orange City Chamber of Commerce that same year.
There’s a new series of events this year to highlight the traditional attire of different regions of the Netherlands. “Our Klederdrach Tea, Klederdrach is the Dutch word for costumes,” Droog said. “Two of our local costume experts are sharing about kind of unique intricacies of each costume.”
The 45-minute sessions start at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday — and tickets cost 15 dollars. Orange City is named after William of Orange, a Dutch prince who became the King of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1689 and ruled until his death in 1702.
