Windmill Island Gardens has long been known as a busy place during Holland’s popular Tulip Time festival each May. However, over the past decade the park has been getting busier throughout the rest of the year. In 2025, the park has far surpassed previous record years in welcoming over 170,000 guests.
According to the General Manager Matt Helmus, this year’s season started off strong with an ideal Tulip Time. “We couldn’t have asked for better weather or a more perfectly timed tulip bloom,” states Helmus. He noted that after hosting a record crowd of nearly 100,000 in May “our numbers have remained strong right through September.” He credits the park’s small but hardworking staff with providing a great experience for the thousands of visitors.
Helmus estimates that Windmill Island Gardens will end up with a seasonal visitor count near 180,000. Whatever the final count is, it will blow away the previous record of 146,248 in 2023. “While these last five seasons have been the five biggest in our history, 2025 is by far our banner year to date,” notes the park’s manager. In addition to these admission paying guests, the park has also welcomed over 12,000 free visits from garden members, reciprocal visitors and local residents and schoolkids.
To build on the momentum, the park will once again push back its closing date into mid-October. While seven day-a-week operations will stop on Sunday, October 5, the park will re-open for weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) through October 19. As of October 1, admission will be reduced to $5 for adults and free for kids. As the fall season progresses, staff will begin removing annual flower beds in preparation for tulip planting.
As a final highlight of the season, the park will once again participate in Downtown Holland’s Fall Fest. New this year will be a ‘Touch a Truck’ event on Saturday, October 4 at Windmill Island Gardens. Guests of all ages are invited to see, touch and hear a wide variety of construction equipment, emergency vehicles and other exhibits. Staff will also be offering hayrides and demonstrating how the park plants over 180,000 tulips. Admission for the event is $5 for adults and free for kids. More details including hours are available at hollandfallfest.com.
Looking ahead to winter, Windmill Island Gardens will bring back the annual Magic at the Mill holiday light show for a fourth season in 2025. During weekends in December, guests are welcomed back to see a park transformed with thousands of lights along with Dutch holiday experiences, music and food. Public ticket sales begin November 1 at magic.windmillisland.com.
More information on these events and more can be found at windmillisland.com.
