Bloemencorso, the Dutch flower parades

What it is

A corso float is a moving sculpture. In Zundert, the birthplace of Vincent van Gogh, each of the town's hamlets enters one. The floats may be many metres long and high. Only dahlias may be used to cover them. The designs are bold: animals, faces, machines, abstract forms, often with moving parts and performers. A jury ranks them. The Bollenstreek parade in April is gentler in style, with floats and decorated cars in the pastel colours of the bulb fields.

Where it comes from

Flower parades spread across Europe in the late nineteenth century, copying the carnival battles of flowers on the French Riviera. Dutch growers saw a use for the blooms left over from bulb and tuber production, since a hyacinth or dahlia grown for its bulb has no other market. Zundert's parade began in 1936. The Bollenstreek parade in its present form dates from just after the Second World War. In 2021 UNESCO added the corso culture of the Netherlands to its list of intangible cultural heritage.

How it is made

Work begins months ahead in large tents. A steel frame is welded and covered with wire mesh, cardboard or papier-mâché, and the colours are painted on as a guide. Each hamlet grows its own dahlias in shared fields. In the last three days the flowers are picked, and hundreds of volunteers of all ages fix them to the float one by one, with nails or glue, through the night. For the spring parade, individual hyacinth florets are pinned on in the same patient way.

How to take part

1. For Zundert, go on the first Sunday of September. Buy a grandstand seat or stand along the route.
2. For the Bollenstreek parade, pick a spot along the road between Noordwijk and Haarlem on the parade Saturday in April.
3. Visit the building tents in the days before. Many are open, and some let visitors help.
4. Return the next day, when the floats stand on display.

Good manners

• Do not pull flowers off the floats.
• Keep children well back from the wheels. The floats are heavy and the drivers can see little.

The flowers

BloemencorsoAnnual flower parades with decorated floats in the Netherlands and BelgiumZundert Flower ParadeA Dutch parade of giant dahlia-covered floats built by local volunteersDahliaA bushy perennial with tuberous roots and bright, star-shaped bloomsTulipSpring-blooming bulbs with showy, cup-shaped flowers in many coloursNarcissusSpring-flowering bulbs with trumpet-shaped blooms in white, yellow, and orange

Also part of it, and being written: Hyacinth.

Sources and further reading

• Bloemencorso on Wikipedia