Rich details of a century-old Dutch street organ is seen at the Stadscentrum, a climate-controlled facilities located in the center of Orange City's downtown district.
Justin Wan, Sioux City Journal
The 1,700 square-foot Stadscentrum -- the Dutch word for "city center" -- opened in 2015.
Justin Wan, Sioux City Journal
The wooden show workshop -- formerly housed at Orange City's Old Factory -- was given a new permanent address at the Stadscentrum, located at the corner of Central Avenue and Second Street.
Justin Wan, Sioux City Journal
Tools are seen at the wooden shoe workshop at Stadscentrum building in Orange City. The Stadscentrum will be filled with visitors during the 76th Tulip Festival. The Stadscentrum will also be home to other activities throughout the year.
Justin Wan, Sioux City Journal
Wooden shoes are seen at the workshop at Stadscentrum building in Orange City.
Justin Wan, Sioux City Journal
Juliana Pennings, Tulip Festival director, talks about the Stadscentrum building during an interview at the wooden shoe workshop area in Orange City.
ORANGE CITY | Most cities can't boast of having a 107-year-old Dutch street organ or a fully operational wooden shoe workshop in the middle of its downtown district.
But Juliana Pennings is quick to point out that Orange City is not your typical town.
"We do things a bit differently here," the director of the city's 76th Tulip Festival noted. "That's why we get visitors from all over the world."
One of the newest tourist attractions is the 1,700-square-foot Stadscentrum -- the Dutch word for city center -- which made its debut in 2015.
Located on the corner of Central Avenue and Second Street, the Stadscentrum is built on the site that was formerly home to Bomgaars.
"When Bomgaars built a new facilities in the south side of town, the Orange City Development Corporation received this property," Pennings explained. "That was when planning for the Stadscentrum started."
Actually, the goal of building a brand-new city center was multi-faceted.
First, the Stadscentrum would become the new permanent home for the massive 1909 street organ that was saved from a Pennsylvania junkyard in the 1950s.
"The street organ needed to be kept inside a temperature-controlled facility," Pennings said. "At the Stadscentrum, we can preserve the street organ for many years to come."
With a new home inside the Stadscentrum, the organ needs only be moved 50 feet before it can play outside and fill the downtown with old-fashioned Dutch music.
"Wheeling it in and out will make things easy for everybody," Pennings said. "People ask why our doors are so tall? The reason is to accommodate the height of the street organ."
If music isn't your thing, perhaps shoe making is.
The hand tools and other wooden shoe making equipment are also being housed in a special workshop at the Stadscentrum.
"People love to see how wooden shoes are made," Pennings said. "It's such a lost art that Orange City is keeping alive."
"That's important to us," she said.
Moving over to kiosks that detail the history of Tulip Festival, Pennings is quick to point out the Stadscentrum is more than a place to house old stuff.
Instead, it is a vivid and exciting place where the Tulip Queen and Her Royal Court can greet visitors. It is also the venue where specially decorated Christmas trees can be housed in December.
"The Stadscentrum isn't simply a space that will be open during Tulip Festival time," Pennings said. "The Stadscentrum is Orange City's city center all year 'round."
ORANGE CITY, Iowa | Juliana Pennings' strangest memory involving the Tulip Festival parade, not surprisingly, involves Mother Nature.
Rich details of a century-old Dutch street organ is seen at the Stadscentrum, a climate-controlled facilities located in the center of Orange City's downtown district.
The wooden show workshop -- formerly housed at Orange City's Old Factory -- was given a new permanent address at the Stadscentrum, located at the corner of Central Avenue and Second Street.
Tools are seen at the wooden shoe workshop at Stadscentrum building in Orange City. The Stadscentrum will be filled with visitors during the 76th Tulip Festival. The Stadscentrum will also be home to other activities throughout the year.
