April 2001 › Mom and Sue Visit Holland › April in Paris › Easter at the Keukenhof › A Few Hours in Amsterdam › Saturday in Haarlem › Haarlem - More Places › Flower Parade - Haarlem Other Months › Index page

Flower Parade - Haarlem Sunday, April 22, 2001; posted by Paris "Dancing Around the World" was the theme of the 2001 flower parade. All of the floats had an international dancing and music theme. This parade is the first major flower parade of the year in the Netherlands. The flower parade started 50 years ago as a promotion for the bulb growing industry and now attracts millions of tourists. Tens of thousands of very fragrant hyacinths are used, along with tulips, daffodils and other colorful plants. The parade, which includes marching bands (one of which is a bicycling band - drums, tubas and all on bikes) travels 40 kilometers from Noordwijk to Haarlem. We stood alongside one of the canals as the procession marched along in front of us. The parade then parked the floats along the Nassaulann to the Oude Gracht so people could see them up close for the rest of the weekend. From 10pm well into the night, various factions of the marching bands strolled around blasting out tunes. Thousands of people strolled through the chilly night, looking at the floats, taking pictures and getting tea and apple tarts at the local shops who thought it a good opportunity to open. The smell of fresh, sweet flowers was amazing. Bulbs around the world. Flamenco. Klompendans (wooden shoe dance). Mutare Dans. Mutare Dans. Bulbs around the world - giant flower bulbs, made up of thousands of real bulbs are on this float. Dansen om de wereld - a float by Fortis Bank. Beach Party - seagulls and light houses.