Hope College’s year-long sesquicentennial celebration will include a distinctive honor on Saturday, May 14: the college has been named Grand Marshal of Tulip Time’s GMB Muziekparade.
It happens that the date itself couldn’t be more appropriate. Hope’s sesquicentennial commemoration, which began with Commencement in 2015, has been leading up to the 150th anniversary of when the college received its charter from the State of Michigan: May 14, 1866.
Hope will be represented by Dutch, the college’s mascot, and current and retired employees and their families. The parade will begin at 2 p.m., traveling west on Eighth Street from Columbia Avenue and then south on Van Raalte Avenue. Current and retired faculty and staff wishing to participate (Dutch costumes aren’t required, but Hope apparel is encouraged) are asked to sign up in advance by contacting Lynne Powe at powe@hope.edu.
This year’s Tulip Time Festival is running Saturday-Saturday, May 7-14, and will also include the Crown Motors Volksparade on Wednesday, May 11, and Metal Flow Kinderparade on Thursday, May 12.
Hope’s involvement in the festival will also again include offering the annual Tulip Time Organ Recitals, which will take place in Dimnent Memorial Chapel on Wednesday-Saturday, May 11-14, starting every half hour at 10 a.m. with the last concluding at 2 p.m.
Detailed program and event information for the 2016 Tulip Time Festival is available at tuliptime.com.