♪♪ [JENNIE DROOG] The Tulip Festival is a celebration of Orange City's Dutch heritage.

It started out as a small flower show in 1933 because our residents said, we want to celebrate our heritage.

Settlers came over from the Netherlands to Pella and then they migrated north to Orange City.

[KOHLSDORF] Decades later, Orange City's Tulip Festival has bloomed into a three day celebration, drawing thousands of visitors to experience the food, costumes and music keeping the town's heritage alive.

[JAELYE WOUDSTRA] We get to do lots of different traditions, like Dutch dancing.

We work really hard to preserve the authenticity of our costumes, too.

So they get a lot of materials from the Netherlands.

Basically, a lot of the events that go on are authentic to the Netherlands.

[JENNIE DROOG] Food is a huge thing here at the Tulip Festival, and there's something for everyone.

Whether you're looking for a traditional Dutch treat like an almond patty, cheese, or if you're looking for carnival food like a funnel cake or cotton candy, there's truly something for everyone.

I would encourage finding an incredible Dutch treat and be in your seats before 1 p.m., because that's when our Straatfeest begins, which is our parade of costumes, Dutch dancers, songs.

And then the street scrubbers come through to clean the streets for the Queen and her court.

And then our parade starts with the bands, the floats, all the fun.

♪♪ [KOHLSDORF] The festival is always held the third weekend in May, just in time for the tulips to open.

[JAELYE WOUDSTRA] I love the tulips.

I'm a big gardener, a flower girl, I love it.

I love when all the tulips are coming up, the bright colors and it makes our town look really beautiful.

[JENNIE DROOG] We have an incredible team who works to make sure that we have tulips in May, between our city crews and many volunteers and Tulip Town Bulb Company.

We place orders in June and July.

Those bulbs ship over from Holland, and then in October they all get planted by volunteers.

And then you don't see them.

You don't think about them.

They're growing all winter long.

And then come April and May, here they come out of the ground and just bring so much color and beauty to Orange City.

♪♪ [KOHLSDORF] While the Tulip Festival celebrates Orange City's Dutch culture each spring, the Dutch American Heritage Museum tells that story year round.

[JIM SCHAAP] We're preserving a story that is worth telling.

That story is the story about Dutch immigration to America.

It includes Dutch immigration and movement here into northwest Iowa.

But we like to think we're a little bit bigger than that.

We think of ourselves as a repository of the kinds of artifacts that will enable people to look at and see and perceive and enjoy their own story.

[KOHLSDORF] The museum's collection includes traditional clothing, art, and artifacts from the region's early settlers, giving a sense of Dutch American life in Iowa.

[JIM SCHAAP] Sioux County is the county in North America that has the highest percentage of people who claim Dutch ethnic background.

So, you know, this is a good place to come and look at these goofy costumes and think, are you kidding me?

My great grandfather wore something like that.

Not all the people who come through here are ethnically Dutch, of course.

We would like to think that in their introduction to Tulip Festival, for instance, this is where they would come for a real sense also of the history of the people who are dancing in the streets and singing and so forth.

♪♪ [KOHLSDORF] What began as a simple flower show has blossomed into a citywide showcase of Dutch tradition, drawing visitors to Orange City for more than 85 years.

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