I am soooooooooo done with school! It feels amazing! I have one week left before gradation. This weekend was my last Tulip Festival! It was fun but stressful and full of yummy fried food!
What is Tulip Festival?
Well since you asked I will explain this strange tradition of my community. So this is the 72nd Tulip Festival. The 72nd year of musicals, parades, costumes, fried foods, fun times, and swollen feet.
I think I have mentioned it before, but the town I live next to, Orange City, is a very strong Dutch community. Many of the people who live in the town and the surrounding communities are of Dutch heritage.So every year on the third weekend in May Orange City has a Tulip Festival. The town is said to really come alive for those three days. (It is really true because the rest of the year it is really boring.) Each day of the festival has two parades. I march in both parades, so six in total. The band I march in wears wooden shoes when we march. For those of you who live under a rock or are retarded wooden shoes are shoes that are actually made out wood. It is a Dutch tradition. It think that they wore them in the fields because they would keep their feet from getting wet. So now I don't even know how many years later we still wear them.
Not only does my band march in wooden shoes we wear authentic wool Dutch costumes in the middle of May. The uniforms are 50 years old. Hooray for 50 year old pit stains!!
Besides being in the parades, I am part of a singing group called the Dutch Dozen. The Dutch Dozen also know as the Goodwill ambassadors for the community of Orange City was established in 1948 by the late great Mrs. Nottebaum.Because Dutch girls are known mainly for their pointed hats we choose to wear the authentic costume of Volendam. We add our own special touch by wearing bright orange shoes. Our accompanist is Mary Reinders. Our directors are Melody DeWitt, Julie Junke, Sharon Foughty, and Brande Pals. (That was the welcome in case you were wondering.)
So the Dutch dozen is basically just awesome. We sing, dance, and look cute. It is pretty legitimate. We do three half an hour performances a day. 10:30 11:30 and 4:00. We also wear wooden shoes for that. Our shoes for the show are bright orange because for a few songs we use black lights. Our apron which are mostly white, our hats, our shoes, and our brightly colored props look very nice with the black lights.
Besides band and Dutch Dozen, I was in the night show this year. Every year the has been a different musical as the night show for Tulip Festival. This year it was My Fair Lady. Which is my favorite musical!!!!! So I tried out and made it as a street chorus member. Which was totally awesome and super fun! The show starts at 8 and normally runs till 11:30.
So I arrived in Orange City at about 9:30 to get ready for Dutch Dozen and stayed until midnight. So I haven't slept much this weekend. Also being my last Tulip Festival I decided to have some fun and do some stuff after night show. Fun but not very wise decision...
My feet are now swollen from wearing wooden shoes all day. Normally they do not hurt, but I had a shitty pair for band this year. So my feet killed from marching so it hurt to wearing my normal wooden shoes. That was not fun.
Even though I am not Dutch the tradition of Tulip Festival has become a part of me, and it is sad to kiss it good bye. But there is soon to be a new chapter in my life. Next year I am hopefully going to culinary school. The drama, mean things said, and blisters will be long gone. I will miss this tradition, but I happy to be done. These bitter sweet occasions are so hard to handle. This chapter of my life is coming to a quick close, and as much as I want it to be done I want to savor of word till the end. I will miss the hot long days, the late nights at the musical, the funny pranks in Dutch Dozen, the tourist taking millions of pictures, the amazing fired food, the even more amazing authentic Dutch food, and yes I will even miss my wooden shoes.
So next year on the third weekend in May when those wooden shoes are not coming out again my heart may cry out for the wooden shoes and happy hearts I once knew. It will be tulip time in Holland, and tulips will be calling me. I will long to tip toe threw the tulips once more. Some how I will survive. Some how I will smile. But for now I can do nothing but grimace with every painful swollen step.
Lindsey
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