Veterans Zumi Posted May 13, 2016 Veterans Share Posted May 13, 2016 Alright, so some people may be a bit confused by this if they're not aware of it already, but in my hometown (Zundert, the birthplace of Vincent van Gogh), thousands of volunteers work together to build the world's biggest dahlia flower parade each year! No one is getting paid for any of it, and the parade has been going on for over 80 years now, minus the years of WWII. And yes, I'm not kidding when I say it's world's biggest flower parade: Moeders Kroost (Mothers' brood) - Heikant, 2002 (1st place, 1st public's choice award) Wirwar (Tangle) - Heikant, 2005 (1st place, 2nd public's choice award) Ballonnen! (Balloons!) - Laer Akkermolen, 2010 (1st place) Paardenkracht (Horsepower) - Heikant, 2014 (1st place) Tokkelen (Strumming) - De Berk, 2014 (2nd place) Van Gogh - Heikant, 2015 (5th place, 1st public's choice award) Big, right? :] Well, as you may have guessed from the amount of photo's I've used, I'm part of the Heikant workgroup, one of the twenty workgroups which build floats for the parade. The parade itself is held on the first Sunday of September each year, and the monday after is a day where the floats are on display for another day before they're broken down on the Tuesday after. The building season officially starts with the Strawberry festival held in June each year (some groups starting earlier though), when the scale models for all of the floats will be on exposition for those who are interested (and which is one of the main attraction points for the festival too!) The flower parade has no set theme, so all of the designers are free to do with the designs as they please. This year, our workgroup will be building this design: I will be helping out during this building season as well, so I've decided to post my experiences about the building season here from here on out, so if you're interested in how floats like these are built, you can keep track of this topic! I'll regularly update this post with some stuff that has happened, although the topic will be most likely more active from June/July on out as I'll be more able to contribute in building as well. I'll also occasionally post photos if possible, so you can see what happens too! I'm super excited to be talking about this again this summer, so I hope you're looking forward to future updates :] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exalted Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 HORSEPOWER HELL YES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YinYang9705 Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 I wish you good luck in this battle of the floats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironbound Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 All the best! You had shown me this once before,and I will say now the same as I did then: you never cease to amaze me; and I'm sure your team will be victorious with you and your family at the helm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hexagoen Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 The flower floats I see in these photos look really nice! Good luck zumi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veterans Zumi Posted May 15, 2016 Author Veterans Share Posted May 15, 2016 Yesterday evening was when the scale model for the float has been revealed! For the past 2 days I've been helping out my brother with painting some of the parts as well as he needed the help a lot; he initially wanted to ask my mom for it, but since my little brother would be a problem, he asked me instead, and so I got to help out -- which was a ton of fun, by the way! Lo and behold, here's the scale model: This is what the float will look like when it's done! If you're wondering about the colors of the flowers: Note that the flowers used for the white on the scale model will never be as white as shown on there, since the whitest kind of dahlia flower is more of a creme color. The colors for the float this time around are white, yellow, orange-yellow, pink and black. Alternative materials are rope, wood and i believe some metal as well, but all the brown on the float will be made out of wood! There's probably going to be a bit more detail on the inside of the float though; there's going to be actors on the float who will both be acting as performers and the people who move all the parts of the float! The float's design is based on the machines that Leonardo DaVinci has thought of. Since DaVinci is from the renaissance, humanism was a big thing, and therefore also the man; The machines usually involved the usage of manpower to make them work, so the actors on the float are most likely supposed to look as if they're working hard to put emphasis on this part as well. I may be signing up myself to see if I can manage to get a position on the float! This means I'd be on the float during the parade and the float showcase the day after. I've been trying to find an opportunity to get a position on the float, but every time something came up again which prevented me from doing so, so I really hope that this year I can manage it after all! The float has a ton of moving parts, and will be 'swimming' through the streets of the town on the day of the parade; or at least, that's the effect that we're going for. The float actually exceeds the max height and width allowed when the fins would be moved outwards and upwards, but the workgroup has gotten permission for this and therefore can continue with this idea. If everything works as planned, then I think we may have a good shot this year again at aiming for the top :] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ojama Yellow Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 but if youre on the float then who will show me around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mde2001 Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 but if youre on the float then who will show me around Your connection of love with Zumi will allow you to communicate mentally then she will both be on the float and show you around. On a more serious note, that float design looks ridiculously awesome and I'm sure you'll have a great parade!!! I'm sure someone with your art talent will help it shine. If I tried to make it, it would look like a misshapen carrot or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spineblade Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 FISH It looks like a great design! I hope the manufacture and performance go well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YinYang9705 Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 Basing the float on Da Vinci? good choice if I do say so myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veterans Zumi Posted May 22, 2016 Author Veterans Share Posted May 22, 2016 A small update, but the flower parade (and more specifically, our float from last year) made it to the cover page of an international art magazine! (which i think is really cool btw omg) And as an extra, here's a video of how a parade workspace is built! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veterans Zumi Posted June 2, 2016 Author Veterans Share Posted June 2, 2016 So, the Amsterdam Film institution made this short documentary about the making of the flower parade, and it shows the progress from last year's building season. It has English subs too, so I'd recommend watching it if you're interested in seeing the building season in short! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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