Is Michigan Home to The Best Flower Festival in the U.S.?
We aren’t far from the start of spring, and USA Today/10best is back with another Reader’s Choice Poll looking for some of the best festivals in the U.S. In addition to looking for the Best Music Festival, Best Specialty Food Festival, Best Film Festival, Best Cultural Festival, Best City Food Festival, and the Best Art Festival they are looking for the Best Flower Festival and we have not one but TWO Michigan finalists ready for their chance at the title. Today we will take a look at the case for the Mackinac Island Lilac Festival and Holland’s Tulip Time and share why we think either one could take home top honors in this contract.
The Mackinac Island Lilac Festival dates back to 1949 and is the largest festival that takes place on beautiful and historic Mackinac Island. 10best says: “Mackinac Island ushers in the summer season with the 10-day Lilac Festival each June. The festival began as a way to entice visitors to the island with horse-drawn carriage rides amid the island’s fragrant flowers. Today, events include the coronation of the Lilac Queen, a 10k run/walk, lilac planting seminars, a cornhole tournament, live music, and the popular Grand Parade.” We’ve been able to attend this festival a few times and enjoyed running in the 10K race as well. You can vote once per day for the Lilac Festival now through March 18th. As of this writing, The Mackinac Island Lilac Festival is in third place, trailing Tulip Time and Seattle’s Northwest Flower & Garden Festival.
Tulip Time in Holland is one of Michigan’s best-known festivals and a nod to the area’s Dutch heritage. 10best says: “Each year, some 6 million colorful tulips bloom in the area, with over 200,000 of them in the downtown area alone. Aside from the floral spectacle, Tulip Time celebrates Dutch heritage with music, dancing, an artisan market, and parades.” Dating back to 1929, this festival draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to enjoy the parade, concerts, food, tulip immersion garden, carnival, races, tours, arts, and traditional dutch dancing. As of this writing, Tulip Time is holding down the top spot in voting. You can throw a vote their way and help them hold down the top spot; voting ends on May 18th.
It’s not often that we have two Michigan finalists in one of these contests, and it’s great to see early results showing them both doing well in voting. With Tulip Time coming up in May and the Mackinac Island Lilac Festival coming up in June this is a great reminder to start making plans to attend two of the Mitten State’s great flower festivals!
