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As the neighborhood children played in the back yard, our parents set about converting a flatbed trailer, ordinarily used for hauling bales of hay, into a fantastic, magical float.
What would the float be? Who would get to ride it? Would it involve candy? These were the questions that occupied my mind as the Festival drew nearer. To my delight and surprise, the answer to the second question proved to be me, as well as my father, my almost-two-year-old brother, Brendan, and Suzie Ruiter, my favorite babysitter (daughter of John and Darlene, and a student of both my parents at Southwest Christian High School). Our section’s float would not involve candy, but it would involve Dutch costumes. All of the costumes were being lent to us from cousins, aunts, and uncles from Orange City, Iowa. My mom, dad, brother, and I would be wearing costumes that belonged to my aunt Connie, uncle Bruce, and cousins Ryan and Ross; Suzie would be wearing the Friesland costume my aunt Margaret had worn as part of the 1978 Orange City Tulip Festival Court. A photograph of my family in costume reveals that my mom wore a costume from the village of Volendam; my father wore a costume the provenance of which I cannot identify; my brother refused to wear his cap, making his costume unidentifiable; and I wore a costume that combined a Volendam shirt and pants with a cap from the village of Urk. I was particularly proud of my blue wooden shoes.
For the Festival, all of the Edgerton neighborhoods were building similar floats. The parade theme, to which all floats had to conform, was “Anything Dutch.” Our section contributed a float entitled “MET BLIJDSCHAP EN LIEFDE GAAT ALLES WEL,” which, helpfully, was translated as “WITH LOVE AND JOY ALL GOES WELL.” The float itself was decorated along the sides and back with a blue-and-white color scheme. The floor of the trailer was painted green; a bridge crossed a painted stream; a model windmill stood at the edge of the bridge; a number of fake tulips were arranged all over the float; and a backdrop with painted trapgevel (step gabled)-style buildings stood behind a bench, on which Suzie sat, Brendan in her lap, my father standing (or crouching, depending on the picture) off to the side.