Many residents of Albany may not appreciate all of the Special Events that the City of Albany is responsible for. But most are familiar with the Tulip festival. According to the City’s web site, this event is described as "One of Albany's oldest and most highly anticipated events . . . set in Albany's beautiful historic Washington Park." I am not sure that I agree with the anticipation part but I certainly do agree with the verbiage for Washington Park. Washington Park is a great asset for a city. It is large and has jogging areas, a beautiful Lakehouse, a stage outside with built-in steps for amphitheater seating.
For some, the highlight of the weeklong event was the crowning of the Tulip Queen at noon BUT for many, the highlight was the free concerts especially Blood Sweat and Tears with David Clayton-Thomas. There were three stages of entertainment. One stage was the permanent stage used for the Parkhouse plays in the summer. An advantage of this stage is that there are built-in seats in the amphitheater setting. However that area was not big enough for the main event. So a temporary stage was set up where thousands of people could sit on the grass or blankets or folding chairs to watch the concert. There were food vendors and booths for beverages but many brought coolers and camped out waiting for the concert to begin. Since we brought those carrying folding chairs, we were able to arrive later in the afternoon and still find a nice area to watch the concert. The concert officially started around 4:30 and they played for 1-½ hours!
In addition to the concerts, there were other entertainment such as clowns and face painting. In addition there were many booths set up to sell crafts, jewelry, etc. There was also plenty of family picnics. And on Saturday, the weather was great so some people were out throwing Frisbees. The festival begins Friday at noon with the traditional scrubbing of State St honoring Albany’s Dutch heritage.
One caution: Parking is a problem if you get there late Saturday afternoon. We parked about 1 mile away but on the positive side, we got some exercise walking to the Park.
Click here for Albany’s Special Events web site details the schedule, artists, entertainment, etc
55th year! . You can see the photo gallery from 2002; probably 2003 will be available soon.