When we spotted a billboard yesterday about a new outdoor Wizard of Oz exhibit was opening on June 15th in Holland, we did some quick online research and planned our route, which in fact will includes Kansas next month, to take us through Holland, Michigan. The Holland Oz Project website promised a living horticultural mosaic, a yellow brick road, and life sized bronze sculptures to honor the author L Frank Baum who wrote portions of his famous story while vacationing nearby. Our first adventure in Oz was trying to find a parking place. Satellite view in Apple Maps was misleading. A call to the visitors bureau was just a little more help. Eventually we found parking outside an abandoned business and walked the half mile to Centennial Park where we were a bit underwhelmed. The giant living mosaic book was beautiful but just not quite enough to make it worth the effort it had taken to get there. A visit to the library across the street and a conversation at the Information Desk revealed that the sculpture garden will be located in that muddy area outside. The statues are due to be installed in mid-August. We were just too early. If we return, we’ll plan to get a campsite nearby rather than take the T@B downtown again, especially in light of the misadventure we had getting out of that empty parking lot.
After some email correspondence with Linda of the Oz Project and with Holland’s Downtown Development Authority we’ve learned that parking in the Holland Civic Center parking lot is recommended. It at the corner of 8th and Pine Avenue and is about a half mile walk to the corner of 10th and S. River Avenue where the Oz Garden is on the NW and SE corners in Centennial Park and at the Library. We’ll try that one next time if we don’t get a campground nearby instead. Probably not a bad idea to check the schedule of downtown events first: https://www.downtownholland.com/events/