After a 3 year COVID hiatus, the Bloemencorso Bollenstreek made its triumphant return. Pete was in Poland on the day of the parade and I didn't want to go alone with the kids. I still wanted to see it though and read that you could visit the warehouse where the flower floats were being built in the days leading up to the parade. They started building them on Wednesday and were complete when Melissa, Violet, and I arrived late Friday morning. While it would have been cool to get to help place some of the flowers and watch them being constructed, it was even cooler to have up-close access to see them all and then get to watch them all being driven out of the warehouse as they made their way to the parade starting point. Our own private parade (everyone else had left and no one kicked us out!).
They were really stunning. Equally stunning was the smell in the warehouse. Like stepping into a hyacinth! Sorry, that can't be conveyed in photos!
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| Close up on the details on the side of the fish. I mean... |
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| It was celebrating its 75th anniversary this year! |
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| I loved this rainbow one! |
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| Details on the rainbow float |
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| Violet does not look impressed, but we were! |
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| We weren't sure why there was a Native American in their parade, but the headdress was spectacular! |
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| This was a take on the famous kissing Dutch man/woman. They made 3 sets: kissing man/woman, kissing woman/woman, and kissing man/man. The whole thing spun around with the front of the float spelling out FREEDOM, using both letters and hands in sign language. |
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| The first float of the first parade 75 years ago was a whale. So this (much more elaborate) recreation was the leading float again this year. |
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| Ready to roll! |
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| We did a quick drive through some of the tulip fields before Violet let us know it was time to go home. A sneak peek of our tulip day the following weekend! |
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