In Store Specials
By Co-Owner: Bonnie Meier

This week we are featuring disc golf. All discs are 15% off and disc golf accessories, like shirts, towels, etc. are 20% off. The next week all Dutch food will be 30% off for one week only. We also have a 30% off table with many items featured – We will have more specials in June to keep people coming in even though there will be construction in the street. We’re not sure how we will handle the few days that our sidewalk will be completely torn up. We may just close for a couple of days if they have to do some reconstruction in the front of the store. If we do, we will probably have a delivery service to people in the near area, if there is something that you need before we open again. We thought of having people come through the back, but that might be more of a hassle than delivering to you. We’ll have to see how disruptive it is and try to get word to you on Facebook or the local paper.

Tulip Festival - a Great Success
By Co-Owner: Bonnie Meier

Tulip Time was great this year. The Budweiser Clydesdale horses were in town on Saturday and I think that is one of the things that contributed to the success of the Festival, plus the weather was nice on Saturday and many of the tulips were still very pretty. The Saturday of Tulip Festival was the busiest day we’ve ever had in the almost five years of our store’s history. Having that many people in the store at one time showed us that we need to change the layout of the store to accommodate everyone more efficiently. The biggest change for next year will be to move our wooden shoes from behind the counter to a place that is more accessible and less congested. I think we will find a place toward the back of the store for them.

On a personal note, what made this year great was that my son and two granddaughters came from California to help celebrate. Also all my uncles and aunts were here plus some of their families (three uncles and one aunt). It was just a great week.

Trivia Question
By Co-Owner: Bonnie Meier

The $20 gift certificate for answering last month’s question goes to Idelle Vogel of Orange City. She came the closest to guessing how many Dutch costume patterns we had on December 31, 2014. The answer was 19.

The trivia question for this month (prize is a $20 gift certificate to Jubon Juweelen, good for one year) is, "How many puzzles did we count in the December 31, 2014 inventory." Many people don’t realize that we carry a nice assortment of puzzles. This is just new puzzles, we don’t count any that people might have here on consignment on our inventory.

Our question this month is how many Dutch costume patterns did we have on hand on December 31, 2014?

"Little Kingdom by the Sea" Available at Jubon, LLC
By Co-Owner: Bonnie Meier

On Saturday there was an author’s corner on the northeast side of the Court House lawn. The Northwestern Classic had just featured an article about our book, “Letters from Ralph” and we sold quite a few. Ralph’s daughter, Sandi, manned the area most of the day, but I spent a couple of hours myself there as well. Right across from our area were two gentlemen from the Netherlands who were selling their book “Little Kingdom by the Sea.” As they really didn’t want to carry a box of books with them when they left Orange City, Jubon Juweelen purchased the rest of their books and you can now get them at our store. “Little Kingdom by the Sea” is a celebration of Dutch Culture heritage and architecture. It is a walking guide through history written by Mark Zegeling, who was here at the Tulip Festival. The book reveals the secrets of the KLM houses. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has given away Delft Blue miniature houses to its business class passengers since the 1950s. They are replicas of real houses. The book offers readers an exclusive peek into the lives of the people who have lived in the houses for the past 500 years. It includes more than 100 incredible but true stories about extraordinary people including Rembrandt, Anne Frank and Mata Hari. The book also has over 300 historic photographs and paintings. The book is available at Jubon Juweelen for $25.00.

Street Scape - Kind of Frustrating
By Co-Owner: Bonnie Meier

I think we have told you before that the street in front of our store will be torn up and replaced starting next week. Along with replacing the street, most of the sidewalks will also be replaced. Our problem is that there is quite a slope from the edge of the street to our front door. We want to be handicapped accessible, but right now the engineers are not finding any easy way to do that. The inclines are all too steep for the small space we have in front of the store. I hope by the next newsletter I can happily say we have resolved this somehow.

Perusing our Guest Book
By Co-Owner: Bonnie Meier

Many of the people who attended the festival signed our guest book so we are happy to report this month that we had people in our store from South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Michigan, Missouri, Utah, Illinois, New York, Tennessee, Florida, Wyoming, Texas, South Carolina, Arizona, Massachusetts, and all over Iowa. We also had people sign in from Taiwan and South Korea. Cornelia Hayes signed in as Miss Teen of America. The comments also were interesting. Many people wrote about things they want us to watch for such as Red Willow and anything that has a French history. There were many comments, not only about our shop, but also of the town and the Tulip Festival. A person from Elbow Lake, Minnesota wrote, “1st time in Orange City. Completely AMAZED at the great job this city does providing smiles and things to do!” It’s fun to check their comments. We will also add many to the newsletter as anyone who left their e-mail addresses will be added to our mailing list.