This weekend, May 1 and 2, Borculo once again will host a celebration of that humble little blossom some might think of merely as a nuisance: the dandelion. And to think this festival all started in jest.

It was in 1986 that the idea for a dandelion festival was born. While contemplating an ad for the Zeeland Flashes for his Borculo restaurant, Vern Bohl thought it might be comical to do a spoof on Tulip Time and have Borculo’s have its own floral festival. Vern looked across the street from his restaurant and saw that the church yard was “just packed full of dandelions.” He announced then and there, “We're going to have a dandelion festival,” already envisioning how that would put the community of Borculo on the map.

This was the era before GPS. Vern jokes that lost travelers heading to places like Holland or Grand Haven would happen upon his restaurant after making a wrong turn. Once the Dandelion Festival came into existence, Borculo became a destination instead of a wrong turn—at least for a day or two at the beginning of each May.

The very first Dandelion Festivals were promoted through Vern’s restaurant ads and held at the restaurant. There were guessing games with yellow Jellybeans, prizes, a balloon release, name drawings, and a contest to bring in the longest dandelion.

The 1987 contest winner brought in a dandelion that was 35 and a half inches, earning two years of lawn treatment from TruGreen.

“It was just neat,” Vern recalled with a smile. “I think everybody around here now has a different view of dandelions than they used to have, right? Now you don't want to kill them. You get excited when you see them and you measure them.

Vern’s wife Wanda remembers the old bucket that sat by the restaurant door filled with dandelions. In it, they’d put a sign: $50 fine for picking dandelions. Holland has rules like that for tulips, they thought why not have the same for dandelions.

Vern said that things just evolved from there. In 1992 was the first parade, and he road in a car that the Borculo Christian School kids had painted with dandelions. The next year he rode a manure spreader—also painted by kids.

The early parades consisted of one band, a lot of antique cars, homemade floats, juggling acts, and everything else. Vern said the whole parade was just funny and homemade stuff; it wasn't all commercialized. Local businesses, like the lawn care services, could ride their mowers. Parents dressed up babies in strollers and gave candy. "They always do candy," he said.

“It was just a neat thing to do, a little community thing. All of a sudden there's two to three thousand people that have gathered in Borculo to watch this silly little parade.”

The route initially went from Mary Lou Street all the way to the Christian school, a little over half a mile. One resident posted a memory saying, with the first parade, the participants traveled the route twice because they wanted to make the parade last longer.

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A contest for the best dandelion recipe soon was added to the list of events and even served at the Bohl’s restaurant. Customers could order dandelion iced tea or Wanda’s 1997 contest winner, dandelion soup.

“Dandelions are healthy,” Wanda explained. She had grown up drinking dandelion tea and her dad’s dandelion wine. As her dad had taught her, Wanda always makes sure to tell people that for dandelions that are to be used in culinary treats, be sure not to pick along roads or where they’ve been sprayed.

In 1997, the festival was featured in the national Country Magazine. “That brought the buses through big time,” Vern said. Wanda chuckled recalling getting calls from tour operators asking about accommodations for the festival. She discouraged them from coming. “We couldn’t handle it,” she explained. “We don’t even have parking for big busses, a small one maybe. It was nice to be thought of though.”

And then in 2001, the road commission approached Vern about changing the intersection in front of the restaurant from a T-intersection, with the dead end being into his business, to a four-way stop. Having been there 22 years and enduring the building being hit six or seven times by cars misjudging the three-way setup of the roads, he decided it might be a good time to close. Included in that decision was his giving up the reigns of the Dandelion Festival. During that farewell year, WOOD TV8 broadcasted an entire morning program from the festival.

Reflecting on his fifteen years as the founder and organizer, Vern said it was a time that was “crazy busy, but fun. There’s a lot of good memories.” He likes knowing that the festival not only brought the community together, but that the little city where people would end up when they were lost, now has a title: The Dandelion Capital.

Even with no visual sign left of the restaurant, Vern has left his mark on the community of Borculo. “Everybody has their own 15 minutes of fame. That was our idea, and it’s held on for a long time,” Vern said.

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After Vern stepped down, the Borculo Christian Reformed Church took over and kept the festival going for about 20 years. The year COVID was announced, the church did not put on the event. After three years of no Dandelion Festival, a resident group of friends started asking around, trying to find someone to pick up the mantle. Finding no one, they decided to do it themselves.

One of those friends, Lindsey Barkel, shared that her group “grew up going to the festival and playing in the band… The festival was just kind of a small-town secret.” In May of 2023, on the day when the Dandelion Festival would have occurred had it been in operation, Barkel and her friends created a Facebook page and put out a video announcement that the festival would be brought back the next year.

Since then, the friends continue to level it up each year by introducing something new and surprising. Last year they introduced DandeLION which is a night of line dancing. This year, on Friday, the night before the festivities begin, for the first time ever there will be fireworks. And thanks to generous sponsors, Barkel said it should be “a pretty darn good show.”

The 2026 celebration officially kicked off on April 13, with a scavenger hunt. Petite golden dandelion statues were hidden throughout the area, with locations tying in a local history lesson as an added bonus.

This Saturday, the day of the festival, the infamous contest of who can find the longest dandelion will of course be a highly anticipated event, complete with kid-geared prizes. The current record is 40 and half inches.

A bagpiper is scheduled to play in the parade. Not many parades can make that claim! Also on the itinerary is a pancake breakfast, race, carnival, live band, Conquerors Strength Team, the Critter Barn, face painting, and more.

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Barkel said that as a mom, she loves that everything is fun, wholesome, local, and that it’s a little easier to get to than Tulip Time, although she loves that festival too. She remembers driving home from the Dandelion Festival last year and feeling it was just like “a spirit of celebration. As a believer, it’s like, I know there’s a spirt of truth.”

She talked about how fun it is to see the community come out and being a part of "this childlike joy that's ignited in everyone as they experience this cheesy festival.” Barkel said there’s just something unique about a small town like this. And it’s fine with her if the festival stays on the smaller side.

Vern couldn’t agree more. Seeing the group of friends who were in the parade as kids now carrying on the tradition and being such great leaders, he’s proud of that.

For all the festival details visit the website or Facebook page.

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