Parade Marshal gladly sports 10-year-old Dutch costume

Good thing, as De Jong serves as the grand marshal for the parades celebrating the 76th Annual Orange City Tulip Festival, an honor he earned after having volunteered with the festival for decades.

"I think it's mostly a 'thank you' from the steering committee for my work through the years," says De Jong, an organizer of volunteers who staff the information booth, or the lead windmill in Windmill Park.

"I've worked in the booth for more than 20 years, and have chaired the volunteers for the past 10 years," says De Jong, an Orange City native whose earliest memories involve the parades at the center of this celebration of Dutch heritage. The information booth requires more than 50 volunteers throughout the three-day festival.

"I rode as a kid in one of the floats," he says, "and I carried cheese, that I remember."

This 1978 graduate of MOC High School has also directed bus and trolley tours throughout the Sioux County seat. He's been on the Heritage Walk and has pushed a flower cart, selling tulips during the festival.

His selection as Grand Marshal -- or, Parade Marshal -- both surprised and humbled De Jong, who learned of the designation in early March. The honor was part of an incredible year for the 56-year-old.

"On April 27, 2015, I began a weight-loss/get-healthy journey and have lost 105 pounds through a Take Shape for Life program," he says.

De Jong weighed 285 pounds at that time, and suffered from depression. There's no way he could have walked the parade route at that time.

He took off the pounds by replacing meals and eating leaner and greener. He now has five meal-replacement concoctions each day and one meal consisting of healthy foods.

"I'm at 179 pounds right now and I'm looking to be at 175 pounds in time for the Tulip Festival," he says.

Jeff Bahrenfuss, a certified health coach, has helped direct De Jong on this healthful journey. De Jong himself has become a certified health coach in the process.

"The changes in my self-esteem have been unbelievable," he says. "I like who I am and I've learned to believe that I can accomplish things."

De Jong often does a rowing workout to complement a 1.5- to 2-mile walk each day. And while he'll ride on the official Tulip Festival float during the parade, he knows he could easily walk the parade route twice per day while sharing his newfound optimism with thousands of visitors to Orange City.

"Last year, I had a new Dutch costume made for me and I won't wear it this year," he says. "In fact, I could probably fit another person into that costume with me!"

Instead, De Jong will slip back into a costume he last wore for the 2006 Orange City Tulip Festival, the last time he was about this size.

"I'm smaller than I was even in 2006," he says. "I'm now off blood-pressure medication and my doctor has officially taken the world 'obesity' off my medical chart.

"Everything is extra special this year," he says of the 2016 Orange City Tulip Festival.

De Jong will have 10 family members join him for the Tulip Festival, siblings and others who will come from as far away as California for the event, which will celebrate De Jong's new lease on life as much as the community's heritage.

"I lost both parents in 2013 within five months of one another," De Jong says. "Food became my comfort in a state of depression and I put on 30 to 40 pounds alone in the fall of 2013 and the winter of 2014. I was told I was on pace to suffer a stroke or a heart attack."

Various weight-loss efforts were examined, tried and cast aside. Finally, De Jong found this Take Shape for Life program and it worked. Just over one year later, De Jong is 105 pounds lighter and looking at life in a sense much brighter.

The leader of the parade, this staffer of volunteers, cannot wait to share his enthusiasm about all things Orange City.

"Orange City is incredible for its cleanliness and the amount of community caring you find here," he says. "And the Tulip Festival is at the center of it, like one big family reunion."