The Simpsons Love Tulip Time: Another Reference To The Holland, Michigan Festival Coming This Weekend
It's Tulip Time in West Michigan, and everyone is heading to Holland to take in the beautiful view of thousands of flowers lining the streets, along with great food and festivities for the entire family to enjoy.
However, it's not just those of us who live in Michigan who love the festival. It's about to make its second appearance/reference on one of the longest-running TV shows in history.
On the final day of this year's Tulip Time festival, an episode of The Simpsons will air, with a reference to the beloved West Michigan festival.
This is not the first time America's favorite animated family has referenced Tulip Time. In fact, in 2005 during the show's 16th season, they had an episode titled "Mobile Homer" that quickly referenced the festival.
In the clip, a Caravan enthusiast tells Homer about how much he enjoys his own RV, to which Homer looks over the RV in wonder and exclaims "Man, I sure would love to drive that to the Holland, Michigan Tulip Festival", which is an obvious reference to our beloved Tulip Time.
The Simpsons have quite a few ties to Michigan, so it's not surprising to see them making reference to the Mitten State. Simpsons casting director Bonnie Pietila is from Gwinn in the Upper Peninsula and attended Michigan State University. However, she isn’t the only Michigan native on The Simpsons crew, because Executive producer Al Jean is also from Farmington Hills.
According to an interview with Simpson's writer Michael Price, The Simpson family is all set to attend the festival, including Marge dressed in wooden shoes and Dutch clothing. Homer is instead swayed by a festival offering cheap burgers and tells Marge to cancel the trip.
Price says he and his wife were married in Holland in 1994, and he has a deep love of the festival and area. When they were writing the episode, he threw the idea for the reference out on a zoom call, and the rest is history.
(Although, I still think the Simpsons should make their appearance at Tulip Time, because a cheap Hamburger festival sounds pretty lame. But, based on the episode title, I'm sure that's what will end up driving the plot.)
The episode, titled “Meat Is Murder,” is set to air at 8 p.m. Sunday, May 15 on Fox, and will be available for streaming the next day on Hulu.