Albany’s Tulip Fest–Homage to Its Dutch History
This past Saturday afternoon my sweet husband and I drove into the city to catch a bit of Albany’s Tulip Fest–an annual celebration of spring, tulips, and Albany’s Dutch heritage.
The celebration begins Friday morning with a carillon (bell) concert from City Hall, followed by traditional Dutch street scrubbing, historically performed prior to any large event in the Netherlands. The Mayor speaks, bag pipers play, and the Tulip Queen finalist are presented.
Street Scrubbing
Saturday at noon the Tulip Queen is crowned and that evening a ball is held in her honor. On Sunday Albany’s Mother-of-the-Year is announced. Throughout the week-end various bands perform on a few different stages, artists exhibit and sell their wares, and food vendors galore hawk their carnival foods: fried dough, chili dogs, pizza, and more. Bob and I shared a refreshingly delicious jug of real lemonade–yum.
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| Dutch Street Scrubbers (source: Albany Times Union) |
Gorgeous Flowers
I haven’t been to Tulip Fest in years, and I have to say, the tulips took my breath away. So many beautiful and unique varieties.
Orange does not rank as one of my favorite colors but these beauties are stunning.
Lovely ladies lifting their heads toward the sun.
The Moses Statue
This imposing sculpture of Moses stands in the middle of the park and serves as a great meeting point for friends. He’s in the middle of a pool, and since it was quite warm, several children splashed in the water. Bob and I sat beside it drinking our lemonade and watching people stroll by.
The Crowd
Both the lanes that wind their way through the park and the flower bed areas saw an enormous amount of traffic. Over the course of the week-end, more than 80,000 people attended the event.
We had difficulty snapping photographs without people in them(!). In the food and artist areas we felt jostled about and we found the music loud and not particularly pleasing to the ear. We might be getting old, but we decided next time we might visit the tulips on an “off day,” that is, a non-Tulip Fest day.
More Fabulous Flowers
Love this color and the softness of the petals.
God’s creativity is certainly evidenced in the sheer number and variety of tulips.
This is the shot I used for my Mother’s Day greeting on Sunday’s post.
The cherry blossoms tried to compete with the tulips for prettiest posy award. I think they gave them a run for their money. What do you think?
One last tulip.
Other articles related to Albany’s Dutch history you may enjoy:
Mabee Farm an Early Dutch Homestead: Part I
Mabee Farm: Part II
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Oh my … such lovely pictures. Glad you got to go to this event and shared it with us. Regardless of the other distractions, it will be a good memory for you.
Hugs,
Audrey Z. @ Timeless Treasures.
Thank you, Audrey! Yes, it was a lovely day with my Sweet Husband 🙂
So, so pretty! I goal is to get to the original in Holland next Spring.
Oh, that sounds wonderful, Brooke! We lived in England for a while and got to travel to a lot of places, but never made it to the Netherlands–would have loved to.
Goodness! This is just a feast for the eyes! I love the colors of those tulips and the pairings in your pictures are stunning! Wishing you a wonderful weekend lady! Nicole xo
Hi Nicole! Thanks for you sweet words of encouragement. Yes, hoping you and "the beans" have a lovely week-end as well 🙂 Blessings to you all, Diana
Your photos are simply amazing!!!!!!
Thank you so much, Deboroah–you're too kind 🙂
Special photos for me — I love tulips and have a Dutch ancestry! My grandparents were all Dutch immigrants who moved to this country in the early 1900's. My mom's parents only spoke Dutch in their home, so all the kids grew up bi-lingual. When my mother retired from teaching, her first European trip was to the Netherlands. I know that I can pronounce all the Dutch surnames; I grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where there's still a substantial Dutch population. I really enjoyed this post.
Hi Mary Ann–I'm so glad you liked it. What a wonderful Dutch heritage you have. We have a lot of Dutch place names around here: Styvesant, Rensselaer, van-this and that, and a lot of rivers named "kill," like the Lisha Kill. However, I haven't met too many people in the area of Dutch descent.
Gorgeous! God has quite an imagination, doesn't He? I'm hoping to go to a flower festival this weekend, fingers crossed. Thank you for joining the History & Home link party at We Call It Junkin! ~ Dawn