HOLLAND, Mich — Check your watch West Michigan because, it’s Tulip Time!
If this year will be your first time, I hit the streets to get advice for you to make sure it's time well spent.
First of all: don’t expect to be the only people there. Last year, more than 976,000 people came out for Tulip Time, according to organizers. So brace yourself for crowds, but don't let that stop you from making your way out - just have a plan, like Hudsonvile sisters Peggy Randel and Polly Roark.
"I think it's a little easier to get on Windmill Island too, if it's not a parade day," Polly told me. "Just, you know, but a lot of busses, it's a big bus tour thing, and so it just depends how you hit that too."
The ticketed Windmill Island is just one of the spots teaming with tulips. Other free options to tip-toe through the tulips are places like Window on the Waterfront or Centennial Park.
Oh, and another thing - dress for the weather.
"Layer, because it's either freeze, freeze and cold, or it's so hot you can't stand it right in between, for sure, sun protection, and you know you have to, just like she said, layer, so that, you know you're always when you're here a long time for the parade, you don't want to be cold or super-hot," Polly and Peggy added.
Sound advice that Georgia residents Mack and Jerene Kaine found out the hard way.
"Dress for both cold, blankets. She's wrapped up with our favorite blanket here," Mack and Jerene told me while taking pictures in Centennial Park.
Also - chances are you are going to do some walking. The Tulip Time website has a great map of free parking options around the area, but those are going to fill up fast.
So make sure you have comfortable shoes...probably not wooden ones.
This is also a big picture-taking weekend, so please just be respectful, and pay attention to your surroundings. Everyone wants to get that perfect shot on their camera - but please do so without butting into someone else's pic or trampling on the flowers.
Even with as busy as Tulip Time gets, there is plenty of room for everyone, and now is a good time to show our guests some of that famous West Michigan hospitality.
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