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Klein Klompen Dancers dance in the Tulip Festival parade.

P-J photos by Sara Holthouse

Tulip Queen Sadie Fuller and her court on their float during the Tulip Festival parade.

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By Sara Holthouse

sholthouse@post-journal.com

CLYMER — The town of Clymer’s bi-annual Tulip Festival celebration honors the Dutch heritage of the town every two years, with an extra aspect to celebrate added in this year with the upcoming 250th birthday of America.

The celebration this past weekend reflected both, with the Tulip Festival’s theme of “Red, White and Blue Wooden Shoes”. Events began Friday with the Tulip Queen Crowning at night, following the annual Clymer Central School May Day celebration earlier that afternoon. Friday night also held a sausage and sauerkraut social and a fireworks celebration.

The Beckerink family float, honoring long-time Clymer community members Hiram and Jane Beckerink.

Sadie Fuller was crowned the 2026 Tulip Queen, at the end of Friday night’s show put on by the Tulip Queen candidates, which was noted to be the largest group of candidates since 1972. Fuller works at the Dutch Village Restaurant, and chose painting as her talent. Fuller will also be joining the Navy in the fall as a U.S. Navy Aviation Survival Equipmentman.

“It was such a fun experience,” Fuller said. “I got to know all of the other girls while we did this together. I knew them before, but I got to know them better now. I didn’t know they were so talented.”

Other aspects of what the Tulip Queen candidates had to do besides preparing their talents, included an essay and answering questions from the grab bag during Friday night’s crowning. With Fuller crowned as Tulip Queen, first runner up was Addison McCray, Addison Damcott was second runner up and the scholarship winner, and there was a tie for Miss Congeniality, which went to both Harleigh Faulkner and Hannidy Goetzinger. The other Tulip Queen candidates included Elli Bodamer, Olivia Dellamora — who was also crowned May Queen earlier that day –, Marleen Lober, Alyssa Pratt, and Raegan Sweeney.

Saturday was the main event for the Tulip Festival, and while the day was rainy, it was still filled with activities throughout the town including craft and food vendors, food trucks, show tent events, kids activities, a petting zoo, and more before the main parade event at 3 p.m. A concert by the band Ashes to Crowns was held Saturday night, and the overall Tulip Festival events wrapped up with a Pickleball Tournament on Sunday.

Events at the Clymer-French Creek Library included a book sale, face painting, and scavenger hunt, and librarian, Alice Cook, said the Tulip Festival is a great event for both the library and overall community.

Town Supervisor Brian Willink, dressed in his burgermeister costume, representing Clymer’s founder, George Clymer, signing the Declaration of Independence.

“I think it’s a lovely event for around town,” Cook said. “We’re busy with face painting and the scavenger hunt that allows people to explore some of the local businesses. We’ve had a lot of people come check out the library; it’s been a wonderful experience and I can’t wait for the parade.”

Some other businesses, both from the Clymer community and the local area, made up part of the vendors, including the Corry Federal Credit Union.

“The Corry Federal Credit Union always enjoys the Tulip Festival,” Sarah Kusiak with the Corry Federal Credit Union, said. “It’s a nice community event, and we enjoy being here. We look forward to seeing all of the people.”

For community members that came out for the Tulip Festival, such as Mark Humes, the overall weekend events help to bring everyone together and to have fun.

“I think it’s a source that lets everyone get together and get reacquainted,” Humes said. “I just love it, the crowing, the parade, everything pulls the town together.”

Earlier in the day and during the parade, Saturday included traditional Dutch Klompen Dancing performances from both the Klein — or school age children — Klompen Dancers and Groat — or adult — Klompen Dancers. Also in the parade was the traditional pushing of babies in the strollers, celebrating the town’s newest additions.

“We’re excited to push our baby sister in the parade,” Jenelle Crawford, who participated in the pushing of the strollers with her two daughters, said. “It’s a great tradition.”

Overall, Clymer’s bi-annual Tulip Festival event is one that celebrates history, which besides the Dutch history also includes facts such as the town’s founder, George Clymer, also signed the Declaration of Independence. Town resident and Tulip Festival attendee, Tara Peterson, said both the history and seeing people that have moved away come back to help celebrate are some of her favorite parts.

“It honors our ancestors who turned a patch of earth into a beautiful little hometown,” Peterson said. “There is a lot of history when it comes to Clymer and its Dutch heritage, like people dressing up to the tee. I love when it’s a Tulip Festival year, that way I get to see a lot of people that live far away that used to be in the parade. It’s like a huge family reunion.”