The origins of  the world famous Spalding Flower Parade stretch right back to the 1920s and 1930s when the acreage and variety of tulip bulbs grown throughout the area surrounding the Lincolnshire market town of Spalding became a feast of colour resembling a gigantic rainbow spanning the countryside for weeks on end.  By word of mouth the fame of the tulip fields spread and the trickle of visitors grew yearly until 1935 when the King George V and Queen Mary Jubilee coincided with the time the tulips were in flower.  In celebration of the Jubilee, the local Bulb Growers’ Association encouraged its members to plant their fields with an emphasis on the patriotic trio of colours red, white and “blue” tulips. The resultant publicity suddenly thrust Spalding and its tulip fields into the nation's spotlight.

 

The crowds that came in 1935 created many problems for the town, not least of which was the traffic.  Coaches and cars caused chaos on the narrow lanes around the fields and this continued to happen in the following years, until in 1948, the Growers’ Association became involved in organising a Tulip Week.  With the help of the Royal Automobile Club, a 25 mile tour through villages and country lanes was planned to show the best fields.  Most of the route was one way and carefully signposted to avoid congestion.

 

So successful was the attraction that by 1950, Tulip Week had become Tulip Time and was developed in conjunction with the Spalding Urban District Council over three designated weekends.  An official Tulip Time Committee was formed which took over the responsibility for other aspects of Tulip Time, with particular emphasis on managing the problems created by the large numbers of visitors.  A Tulip Queen competition was also organised annually and the crowning of the Queen was performed just before the start of Tulip Time.  The Tulip Queen and her two attendants had to be employed in the flower bulb industry and were selected at competitions held at village dances.  The trio toured the tulip fields on the three Sundays in a variety of vehicles including a garland-laden hearse, the only vehicle available that would give everyone a good view. In more recent years the title has been changed to the South Holland Flower Queen, reflecting the more general floral festival events held around the region.

 

Such an influx of visitors not only overwhelmed the quiet country town and surrounding district but also created an opportunity and an idea to put on some sort of attraction to publicise the bulb industry was discussed. A few experiments with decorated cars showed that the tulip heads could be made into garlands and pinned onto backing materials in colourful designs and would still hold their colour for a few days at that time of year. Spalding had flowers in abundance, and the tulip heads had to be removed from the stems whilst they were in flower to help the growth of the bulbs, and then the bulbs would be lifted in early summer for cleaning and grading.

 

Taking the heads off the tulips naturally shortened the visual appearance of many of the tulip fields, especially when they were de-headed in their prime.  This created another problem for the Tulip Time organisers.  Although a tulip field in full bloom was, and always will be, a sight to behold, within the space of a day, a grower could turn a carpet of colour into a field of waving green stems and foliage, which was hardly a sight worth travelling many miles to see.  Consequently, some of the visitors ended up being very disappointed as, dependant on weather conditions and the variety of the bulbs, commercial pressures meant that growers had to de-head millions of tulips at the best time to ensure they got the best bulb crop, even though it could spoil the Tulip Time displays.  

 

So, to ensure that there would always be tulips on display, even if they might not be in the fields, from the many millions of tulip flower heads removed it was decided that keep some available for decorative purposes, firstly for static displays and some selected carts and vehicles, and these eventually started to drive around the town until, in 1959, the first Spalding Tulip Parade took place.  Within a few years this Parade was to become world famous and even more popular than the tulip fields themselves.

 

In the early years of the Parade, key members of the Bulb Growers’ Association and the Tulip Time Committee set about the task of organising the event.  They engaged the services of Adrianus van Driel, who was experienced in designing Dutch flower floats which  used mainly hyacinths.  He showed how the concept of an artistic design on paper could be transformed into reality by constructing a welded steel framework, covering it with mats of straw and then, to complete the effect, pinning on thousands of individual tulip heads with steel hair pins to produce an eye dazzling scene on the finished float. Adrianus' early designs consisted of sweeping aesthetic colourscapes, but when his son, Kees, took over some years later, he introduced a greater emphasis on figures and animals translated into a fantasy world of breathtaking flower floats.

 

Building of the floats began with an intricate outline of steel tracery welded by local blacksmith, Geoff Dodd, on a base carefully measured to fit a tractor underneath it. The initial form and steel skeleton of each float was skilfully constructed into the outline shape of the subject and then the steelwork was covered with a special straw matting to form a base to which the tulip heads could be attached.  The use of straw matting, which used to be specially imported for the Parade (but became a favourite delicacy for the region's mice), has in more recent years been replaced by sheets of polyethylene foam.

 

Teams of up to 200 people, many of them volunteers, then worked throughout the two days (and often into the night) before the Parade using up to one million tulip heads and pinning each one onto the floats in the colours and patterns required until all the floats were covered with tulips and the paper designs became exquisite tulip sculptures. The float designer (who is now Mrs Jacqui Barnes), also oversees the tulip heading to ensure the best combinations of colours are used to achieve the maximum visual impact on Parade Day.

 

Tulip heads are collected from the fields a few days before float dressing commences.  The selection of colours and the numbers available is very dependent on the weather.  Sometimes the tulip heads are actually picked on the day they are required.  Just one week of  hot weather before the Parade could “blow” all the tulips so they are unusable or a cold spring could hold back flowering so that the tulips are not open enough to dress the floats.  Every year the weather gives this last minute uncertainty which is much the same situation for organisers of similar events around the world.

 

A single float, which can be as much as 50 feet in length, may be decorated by as many as 100,000 tulip heads, supplemented by numerous individual flower arrangements created by members of some of the region’s Flower Lovers' Clubs.  Other colourful spring flowers and materials are also used to complement the individual design characteristics of each float.

 

The result is one of indescribable beauty and it is not surprising that visitors return year after year to see the themed flower floats with their unique combination of design, colour and tulip texture.  In 2001, as part of a special twinning ceremony with the Canadian Tulip Festival, a special float was constructed and sent to Ottawa where it was covered in silk tulip heads and put on display in the centre of the city. Even with silk tulip heads it looked quite spectacular and was a favourite attraction for the city residents and tourists.

 

So, from that Saturday afternoon at the beginning of May 1959 when the first Flower Parade passed through Spalding town, through crowds jostling the narrow streets in a carnival atmosphere as the bands played, the Parade has continued every year since then, although it was touch and go with the 2009 Parade as it was  cancelled originally and then re-instated at the last minute following a campaign by the local MP.

 

The first Parade was described as 'a floral pageantry a mile long'.  There were just eight floats and the Chairman of Spalding District Council, Mr. A.L. Munson, urged the town to “hang out the flags and make Tulip Time a memorable occasion” which they have continued to do ever since. It became an event not to be missed - 20 special trains came from all over England to the sidings at Spalding station.  Temporary caravan villages sprang up and 200,000 people would watch the spectacle. The success of the Tulip Parade, the only display of floral floats in the world using just tulips, brought Spalding and its horticultural industry to the notice of the country. Within only three years of its inception, the Parade had become so famous that a quarter of a million people were coming to Spalding on Parade Day to line the four mile route around the town.  Soon the organisers were to extend the Parade to include a four day static exhibition at which the floats could be examined in detail by Parade enthusiasts.

 

It has developed into one of the UK's most colourful events and is enjoyed by people of all ages. Tens of thousands of visitors still arrive in Spalding to see the floats, marching bands, vintage bicycles and other entertainment as the Parade makes its way along the four mile route around (and through) the town, which takes three hours to complete.

 

The event still provides the flower growers of Lincolnshire and local businesses with the opportunity to promote the part they play in the region's economy.  Other beneficiaries from the event are charitable organisations, schools and churches which use Parade Day to boost their income and then sharing the benefits throughout the community by the activities they undertake on behalf of many local and deserving causes.

 

As well as the Parade flower floats, new additions are added to maintain the interest of the crowds and the whole event is staged under the banner of an annual theme which this year will be “Planet Earth”. More recently a carnival has been added with local children creating traditional carnival dance costumes being joined by bands and other entertainers.

 

Many other floral attractions have also developed around the Flower Parade in a bid to improve the town's community spirit.  One such attraction is the various church flower festivals. These Thanksgiving Festivals have become famous in their own right and many of the visitors to Spalding and its surrounding area take time out to see the magnificent decorations in many of the churches.  These festivals take on a variety of forms and there are as many as 20 church flower festivals taking place during Tulip Time.

 

Even after the introduction of the Flower Parade the remaining tulip fields were still a popular attraction.  Up until the early 1960s, in the last weeks of April and early May, many thousands of people were still touring the countryside around Spalding enjoying the view. However, rotational needs found tulips planted far away from the road.  Good husbandry demanded the removal of flower heads to create better bulbs and eventually the few remaining growers were less able to include fields for planting which had easy public access.  

 

Gradually, over recent years, most of the tulip growers have converted their land to other more profitable vegetable and cereal crops, although the region (now named appropriately South Holland), grows a major proportion of the UK’s daffodil flowers and bulbs, both for home consumption and for export.

 

Unfortunately the glory days of hundreds of acres of tulip fields have disappeared, but the Spalding Flower Parade is still going strong, and if you want to capture something special then why not come along this year. The Parade leaves from Springfields on the outskirts of Spalding at 2.00pm for its 3 mile journey through the centre of the town. You can either watch from the roadside or for a close up view go to see the floats on display at the Parade Festival and Float Display at Springfields.

 

Whilst we only have the photographs to remind us of the magnificent and memorable floats of previous Parades and even though the acres of tulip fields may not be there anymore, Spalding still has something colourful, unique and special to offer visitors over the May Bank Holiday weekend.