HOLLAND, Mich. — Holland's Tulip Time Festival welcomed 895,153 visitors during its May 1–10 run, with organizers saying the total number of tulip season visitors easily surpassed 1 million people.
Tulip Time Executive Director Gwen Auwerda said the blooms drew crowds even before the festival officially began.
"We also had visitors prior to the festival week because the tulips were blooming, so add all those in, we easily had over a million people here to see the tulips," Auwerda said.
New additions this year included the Dutch Life on Display exhibit and the Tulip Time Drone Show Spectacular, held before the fireworks finale. The drone show generated 24,400 visits, an increase from last year.
Auwerda credited the drone show with boosting attendance at the fireworks event at Kollen Park.
"We had 25% more people attend the fireworks at Kollen Park," Auwerda said.
Planning for next year's festival is already underway. Auwerda said the event depends heavily on community volunteers.
"We had about 1,300 shifts, and usually we average about 800 volunteers, and that does not count the 934 Dutch dancers that volunteer," Auwerda said. "Without them welcoming guests, being tour guides, helping pick up trash, being docents at our shows, we couldn't do this without that community support."
