8/24/2009
Holland, Michigan is a fascinating little cultural enigma – founded by Dutch immigrants the population (until recently) has always been around 90% people of Dutch descent. We spent most of the day exploring this town and tried to hit three of its cultural highlights.
First of all, we visited what I supposed would be classified as a theme park – The Dutch Village. It’s a recreation of a 16th-century Dutch village, complete with costumed “peasants” walking about. We expected this place to be really cheesy, but it was actually a genuine celebration of the cultural heritage of the people of the town. You can basically just wander about, although they do have scheduled events, such as demonstrations of how wooden shoes are made and such. One of these demonstrations is candle making. I might have to turn in my “guy” membership card for saying this about candles, but these ladies rock. You have to see it to believe it. (Actually, apparently you can, since they were featured on the show “How It’s Made.”) All in all, the Dutch Village is a great family place, with plenty of stuff for kids. They also have stores and stores of delft pottery (that’s that white and blue pottery, don’t you know?) that could bring a grandma to tears.
After we left the Dutch Village we traveled over to the Veldheer Tulip Gardens and DeKlomp Factory – which is basically a complex of shops that sells tulips (Laura picked up a few), wooden shoes and more of that delft pottery. Actually, the Veldheer people are the only manufacturer of delft in the United States. Unfortunately for them the city was doing construction on the road right at their entrance, so it was very difficult to find a back way in. We overheard the workers complaining about that. It may have explained why they didn’t charge us admission, since apparently they usually do. According to Schultz, in May the tulips are in bloom in the garden out back, which I’m sure is breathtaking, but this late in the summer there wasn’t much out there – so I’m glad they didn’t charge us. Oh, by the way, they also have buffalo wandering about. Why? I don’t know. It’s a weird place.
Finally, we visited a park called Windmill Island – so named because there’s an island with a windmill on it. Clever, huh? Anyway, they charge admission and I was a little annoyed because apparently you can get a discount if you visit the Dutch Village and Windmill Island, but they wouldn’t give it to us because we had to buy the ticket at the Dutch Village. Nobody mentioned that to us there. Why they couldn’t give us the discount at Windmill Island is beyond me, but I’m sure there is some complex bureaucratic reason behind it. Laura thinks I am turning into a real dad – trying to get discounts on everything, salivating at the mouth if I can save a dollar. Maybe she’s right.
Actually, Windmill Island is pretty cool. They have a couple of little exhibits there and we have to admit, at this point we were thinking to ourselves, “If I have to see one more piece of white and blue pottery…” They have a Dutch carousel there and we took Daniel on it. Don’t worry. We didn’t put him on a horse. We sat with him on a little wagon. We could tell he didn’t know what to make of it, but he seemed to enjoy himself.
It looked like the entire fire department was there that day. We were afraid something had happened to someone, but it soon became clear that they were just testing their equipment. You ever see firemen testing their equipment? It’s like Christmas Day. They’re all giddy with excitement, firing off the water hose and patting each other on the back. To tell you the truth, it does look like fun.
Anyway, I took a tour of the windmill. Laura stayed below with Daniel because heights and Laura don’t mix. The windmill is worth a look though. It’s the only authentic Dutch windmill in the United States. It was a gift from the Dutch government. You can’t get one anymore, because now they’re all national landmarks in the Netherlands – so if you want to see one, come to Holland. The tour guide was a very knowledgeable college-girl. I get the impression that every high school and college kid in town is forced to work all this Dutch stuff every summer. It’s cool for us tourists, but I’m sure it gets real old for them! But, like I said, our guide was really great – she even took it in stride when some guy interrupted her to tell a story about how he once accidentally swallowed a bee. Great story, dude.
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