coverage and he is standing by live in downtown holland kurt looks like a great day for the festival yeah that's exactly right i'm here in downtown holland where as you can see on this beautiful warm sunny spring day we're really getting close to the look time twenty fourteen you know after a long cold and snowy winter people in this community are ready for the festival to begin in fact as we can down the street here you'll see that people have been lining up all day long to get ready for the parade the unofficial kickoff of the tulip festival speaking of tulip festival which of course reminds us of tulips we can see here in one of that many downtown tulip beds that we have a almost perfect supply of flowers this year in fact sources close to tool time told me that they guarantee that by noon today the flowers will be in full bloom it's a sure sign that spring has arrived it's to look time and home the harsh and snowy winter there was concern that the cold weather might affect the festival however those fears were unwarranted as spring time has come to holland bringing with it millions of blooming tulips and crowds excited to celebrate the two look and the warm electric blanket i think it's our going to need be sure to drink plenty of water today to bring along some water i did but it keeps freezing in addition to the usual to look time decorations and traditions like selfies and front of flower beds full of tulip starting today crowds will eagerly be before this afternoon's parade so that will happen shortly governor snyder is in town so check back tonight at six o'clock for a full report on today's festivities from down town hall in this warm spring day reporting live for fox seventeen back to you how it is how it's water there's a couple breweries i mean what good food you should google what does america holland do well here i am how stuff works how mayors work well looks like they're responsible for all the city's main departments well i trust that you've enjoyed your lunch and please continue to enjoy your lunch as we continue the program i should note that well before we go any further why don't we give a special round of applause and appreciation to all the folks here at hope college who set up the gym prepared the food and served it  it is it is no small feat to convert this fantastic auditorium and arena into a dining facility so they've done it well again this year and we're appreciative for it i should also note that course the colors this year were again presented by the holland department of public safety honor guard and the pledge of allegiance was given to was we were led in the pledge of allegiance by the latin americans united for progress youth ambassadors diana cortez and gerald cleveland were our speakers there and the national anthem this year was sung by the hamilton high school honor square and the ambassador the ambassador was noting that the dutch anthem was sung without a lot of accents and i explained to him probably about six weeks ago they may not have known any dutch whatsoever so our secret is out now it is a wonderful time of the year it's a wonderful festival and we are pleased that you are all here of course governor it is remarkably great to have you back again this year and this year i would note that we are also privileged to have kelsey snyder the governor's older daughter elsie it is great to have you here and i might note dr knapp that she is a senior in high school so perhaps sitting in this space could become habit forming for her and now kelsey sirree all right she's give me maybe so we're still in the running money tucks o do you want to do this you're really years still in the irwin is the guy's name he's the money guy you want to talk to him all right well this is the unofficial kickoff to the summer tourist season here in the state of michigan and we know however that of course tourism doesn't just begin in the spring in the summer and michigan this is a four season destination for tourism one of the special things that we're going to have unveiled today is a pure michigan video  commercial for the city or for the air holland area try that again around unveiled if you're michigan a commercial for the holland area now part of the reason we're doing it today is because you're all here part of the reason we're doing it today of course because this is the kickoff to look time but part of the reason we're doing this here today is because we won't really get much of a chance to see it it doesn't make a lot of sense from a budget standpoint to run the commercial locally we know about this place we like this place we're going to run it in places outside of our area so that people who may not know about holland find out about us and come and visit and spend some money here however of course this is not the first time no you may not know this but this is not the first time we've had a holland commercial there was one that had been done earlier  highlighting other seasons in the holland area not just spring and summer and again because you haven't seen it maybe we thought we'd quickly show that to you as well it starts with a single sn the kind you tried to catch on your tongue as a kid try catching it again in a place called home a place where that single snowflake falls and falls and falls and falls some more in fact you'll wonder i don't know about you but i could show up every time i see that one it's good we lived it didn't we we lived it we're still living it it seems like now of course that's a spoof that's didn't really happen it's not really an authorized sanctioned commercial but we do know that tourism in michigan is an incredible part of our economy as a state some stats recently came out that we're talking about eighteen billion dollars to the michigan economy that comes to us from tourism and we're talking about ninety six million travelers throughout the state of michigan those are incredible incredible numbers and while we have so much that is beautiful and so much culture in this state we also know that those attributes as great as they are don't necessarily draw to us wonderful tourism numbers so we're so incredibly fortunate to have a great advertising state campaign through the state called pure michigan you might have heard of it and it is the envy of every other state because it is so magnificent we're thrilled today to have with us the director of to michigan dave lorenzo as well as travel commissioners for pure michigan from throughout the state and they are mid way a smashing success and we're thrilled to have you here at the festival and governor and members of the legislature who are here just approved some additional funding for pure machines that message can get out further faster and even better so thank you for that as well well part of springtime tourism is the tool of time festival and i am pleased now to welcome to the microphone when our who is the executive director of tulip time to go through a welcoming some of our very special guests who are with us today kurt and thank you all for being here today this is the eighty fifth festival and we are so excited as a community and so i want to thank a few important groups of people for your presence today first the tulip time board of directors who have guided supported and fostered tulips tradition and transition please stand so we can recognize you our sponsors make it possible to invite the world to join the dance today's luncheon sponsor is presented by huntington bank underwritten by the holland visitors bureau the reception prior to lunch was sponsored by blue cross blue shield blue care network of michigan please stand so we can thank you as well and thank you governor snyder for again joining us as well as ambassador becky landed on the front lawn we didn't hear the helicopter but he got here and also from the state of michigan our distinguished state leadership including secretary of state ruth johnson attorney general bill shooty and speaker of house jase bolger please stand  on behalf of the board of directors i would like to recognize the grand marshals of this year's parades jodi science longtime board member and city of holland employee she is the folks parade grand marshal today we also tomorrow have student grand marshals because they are our future the community foundation of the holland zealand area has a scholarship program and these are community service scholar winners and so we would like to have you stand and be recognized as well as our student grand marshals and the j c i can do a parade and we are looking forward to visiting with saturday's g m b music parade grand marshal jason hanson of the detroit lions what does tourism mean to holland in the west michigan community we welcome five hundred thousand of our family and friends who come from all fifty states and over thirty countries to holland this week has an economic impact of ten million dollars and it kicks off the tourism season and west michigan took time present entertainment elements rooted in tradition such as dutch dance to fabulous new performers like bill cosby and vocal trash which appealed to all generations each year we also introduce new elements to surprise into light you this year we have dutch dogs on parade have you seen them they will be bringing up the tail end of today's folks parade in their dutch past saturday we have the philadelphia mummers just to help some fun you need to google that and look them up they are great they will lead off the parade and then do an encore performance and front of g m b and the splash pad following the parade this past week and we continue to develop our in deep in our community relationships and have fun celebrating fiesta by collaborating with at the first time ever beer tent at that event still time wants to highlight our unique community this year we partnered with copper craft a local grain to glass distillery for the official spirits of two look time if you haven't yet tried the tulip time t h y m e cocktail head to your favorite restaurant and toast to another successful pure michigan summer we are proud to be featured with your michigan is a tourist destination film last summer and made possible with a partnership between the hall and visitors bureau and travel michigan you are the first to preview go enjoy the rest of your day here and the parade and we're hoping that the rain holds thank you well i'd say that was worth the wait fantastic thank you gwen and thank you pure michigan it's our privilege this year to welcome us for his first visit to this holland the ambassador to the united states from the  rudolph he was born in the city of boston which is the provincial capital of the province of trenton trenton the netherlands a little bit different than drawn to here in west michigan but as part of his tour he made very clear that he needed to be sure to go to toronto in west michigan so we will be there at some time over the next couple of days you'll understand why they're chuckling when you see little bit different from the province but nonetheless great he earned degrees from the university of chronic and has been in the dutch foreign service ever since holding many numerous postings in fact he was the first secretary for the political department here in washington that here in washington but here in the united states at the embassy in washington d c covering africa latin america europe and matters of protocol in addition to many other jobs and postings in the dutch foreign service he has  prep reviews to his posting here in the us most recently he was the ambassador to the people's republic of china as well as the country of belgium and sweden he married a wonderful wonderful woman who is in the austin area i have had the privilege of having dinner with her and she is an absolute delight and gabriel the kiper and again as i mentioned this is his first visit to our holland and i will say i've had the privilege of really meeting and knowing these three dutch ambassadors and all three have been remarkable and it's really been a privilege to get to know you over the past year and and it's great to have you here in holland one more thing i will say is though the netherlands is a small country it is a major investor in the united states and part of what it is now doing is raising the profile of the embassy in washington d c and only recently they unveiled a new program holland on the hill to brand all of the activities that the embassy does up on capitol hill and by all reports the early going is fantastic so mr ambassador welcome to holland michigan let's give him a nice warm holland wel great fun where's the snow because i was promised snow i didn't see any and i do love snow so i'll come back in the when is certainly snow here that must be in between november and april i'm very happy to be here to help call it indeed it's a great it's a great college i was given to understand that the sports teams do very well that's important in this country but also in my country as you know doc i mean we never brag but we  was speed skaters they did well in in in in russia thank you thank you very much and very happy to be so many people in the du good thank you very much well welcome everyone and behalf of honey to my colleagues here today it was nearly a year ago that i had the incredible opportunity to visit the netherlands with our lieutenant governor business leaders many of who are here now  in a trade mission trip to really start to actively being gauged in making new friendships and building business connections between west michigan and holland and because when you know it all comes down to the end people do business with people they like and that's what we were trying to do on that particular event and there's been a lot of good work here in west michigan since that time i did learn something interesting though about tulips and i was really bummed to find out they didn't originate in holland they were imported there in the sixteenth century but who would know that now because you really have in holland the nation of paul's become the flower capital of the world and if you go there it's an incredible sight to be seen here in holland michigan we  traditional alive most of all we celebrate the great public private partnerships that we have and we're so grateful to have here in west michigan and today to a time to me is the perfect poster for what we call pure michigan regardless of what commercial we put up there current to a time not only attracts visitors but it also helps in ongoing businesses that we have here too and also helps us to celebrate agriculture which is a big part of what we have here in west michigan and inspires volunteer ism while the tulips are always the art in the backdrop of every view the festivals efforts to share diversity of our employers the village like atmosphere we have in downtown holland and then the regional appeal of what it's like to live work and play here and it's all put important in terms of the strength of our local economy this is to a time this is michigan in its purest form and having some bank believes in investing in michigan and it's very special to us here in holland not because we just have four hundred colleagues that work here but because of what we do to support small businesses and small businesses produce jobs in this state governor snyder hollin huntington proudly support your work to date your vision your leadership your relentless positive action and helping michigan stay on the course to reform that we're all anxious to be a part of we see your leadership is key in making michigan a competitive economic force nationally your support of the importance of attracting and retaining talent which you heard from jeff earlier is incredibly important this region so holland stands with you and that we're so proud of the wonderful things that's gone on here and we're so proud that this pure michigan campaign is going to be shared around the world about michigan not just around the country so as you continue your plan to clean up michigan policy so that we can attract and retain more jobs which is what we're all interested in you know that to a time is also an event that helps clean the streets and you're going to doing that today my friend so i hope you have an extra pair of socks and you can rest assured that hollande is truly communities going to continue to help your economic gardens in michigan so governor snyder walk him back to holland michigan all thank you very much it's great to be with you today it is a special day i'm back for my fifth visit to the festival so i'm very excited by that if you wonder four years as governor i actually had the opportunity come march in the parade back in the seventy's so i've gotten to trade in a saxophone for a broom so we'll see an exciting opportunity at sounds like we're going to have what streets so we can claim really well today in terms of getting cleaned up but it's great be with you before i get service in common so i do want to extend special welcomes in particular it's great to have you mr ambassador for your first visit to holland michigan thank you for joining us today i'd also like to welcome our college president from hope college new to this area but we're excited to have you here in the innovations you're going to bring so it's great to have new people come to our area i also want to recognize we have a great leadership team at state government that i'm proud to be with today in terms of being here we have our attorney general bill shooty are secretary of state route johnson or speaker of the house jase bolger and a number of legislators and i love your mayor one of the highlights i get as i was coming this lunch and i have no idea what he's going to come up with each year in terms of things he's going to cover so if you'll indulge me he's got a great sense of humor i thought i would share one story with you about your m so this event took place earlier this year and i don't normally talk about i versus we but i will so i was in my process of tory i'm doing a press conference that i was going to sign a bill on personal property tax and we had a lot of great leaders with us and your mayor was there to help celebrate the success and i thought you should know the role he plays in the state i may be governor of the state of michigan but the people that at that press conference identified this fine mayor as the big guy congratulations amer how many of you wish you had the opportunity to pick on the mayor like that occasionally he does an outstanding job the mayor and all great regard extremely successful it's a wonderful community and he did really good marketing that windmill last year is great to be with you though i thought i would cover three general topics one a quick update on the state of michigan but then i would do want to talk about this region about holland out of a county in the region and the role it plays has is a critical role and i'm not sure you get an opportunity to really hear it or appreciate the wonderful things going on in home port you are to our state and i want to talk about two or three topics for the future because again we've seen a lot of success we are the comeback state michigan but we should not be complacent nor content with what's been achieved there's much more work to be done and in fact i believe we should be accelerating the work we've been doing and go even faster now with respect to the state of michigan i am proud to say we are the comeback state and how do you measure those things you start with jobs so in the last three years we've created over a quarter million private sector jobs in the state of michigan if you look at those jobs we're number one in manufacturing jobs we're number three in high tech jobs we're number four in high paying jobs our state these are great opportunities and that's how you bring a state back but beyond just jobs it's also about the income levels for people on a per capita basis because we went backwards if you go back to the late ninety's we were ranked  the united states in per capita income by two thousand and eight nine we dropped to thirty eight there so last year though i'm proud to say and for the last two or three years we've been coming back we've been seeing that number recover where the ninth fast to state and per capita income growth last year that's the best we've done in the last twenty years so we're moving in the right direction our states growing again in terms of population and very importantly we're starting to keep that age demographic of twenty five to thirty four year olds in our state so we're on the cusp of that massive turnaround that come back and again that's why we should reinforce that but one of the great parts of our state is the diversity of our state and how the different regions contribute to that success and that's why i want to talk about the region a little bit about the role of the holland area and wound up what kind of a place you are a leader and you should know that if you talk about unemployment the third lowest unemployment rate in the state of michigan is right here at six percent and that in fact happened why the labor force is growing so the denominator is getting bigger as you are bringing down the unemployment rate the future looks bright later advantages than good work i think the forecast is roughly twenty four hundred additional jobs over the next three years that's truly exciting wonderful things going on but why is that again as government we try to play our role but our role is to create the environment for success we like to see free enterprise work and this is a place of free enterprise in this region a couple sites stats that stood out to me when i was looking at some of the other survey results it's interesting to note that if you look at companies in this region on average they span about fifty percent more on research and development than the national or midwest average again they're investing for the future you're building innovations things to last for the long term there will be job creators and sustainable job creators if you look at the forecast for expected growth it's about fifty percent better than the rest of the country in terms of what entrepreneurs business people think is the future in our country and in the world that's the kind of attitude you have to have you've got to have that entrepreneurial spirit about winning and succeeding and it's right here and you should be proud of that you've got wonderful companies that are huge successes gentex herman miller hayworth are legendary companies that we all know it was exciting and i had a great opportunity today to visit  electronics that's a wonderful success story doing the lighting again the future the future is ellie the lighting folks in two thousand and ten they had thirty people today they have one hundred fifty two what kind of growth it's outstanding and that's looking towards the future and one thing i would suggest that you seriously look out because this is a wonderful area and it's great to celebrate tulip time and dutch heritage but you need to work more on celebrating the broad heritage of the wonderful people in this community because one thing that stands stood out to me is they did a welcome sign for me and the workforce the people working there did it in their native languages they said welcome do you have any idea how many different languages were in those hundred fifty people and it wasn't even one hundred fifty it was just the first shift people there were over a dozen different languages represented working in that plant that's something you should be really proud of because the dutch message is one of immigration and the power and the strength that immigration means to our country i'm proud to be the most pro immigration governor in this country and you should be embracing it even more the dutch heritage but the heritage of all the fine people in this community and this county it's truly amazing and you should be proud another illustration is i did an interview with the weather channel this morning and there's a high school group a dance group and i had the superintendent he gave me the background on the kids in that dance class and all the wonderful things they were achieving and they were an extremely diverse group of kids in terms of their cultural backgrounds but they were in chief so much and i'll give you one ration that you should be proud of a program we've supported strongly at the state level was the world champs for state first robotics is from holland michigan you should be proud of that there are four teams recognized as the world champs to offer from michigan and one right here in holland that's the kind of success story that we can show the rest of the world and why is it important in a program like first robotics because it is about our future about six percent of our kids look at engineering if they go to first robotics it goes over forty percent what a wonderful opportunity so you're playing a huge leadership role in our state in terms of economics but you're also doing it in quality of life what  great place to live and that gets back to the basics if you look at the industries in our state your great representation automotive again think of those auto suppliers i talked about cryonics the other companies i mentioned gentex particular autos are back in michigan the reconsolidating here agriculture is doing extremely well sixty percent export growth in agriculture and food products tourism pure michigan you've got to love that ad more  second one the first one we have the best tourism campaign in the united states and we should be proud if you want something see something really wild will bring it next year is actually i want to hear michigan in china and i got to see an ad in chinese that'll really get your attention in terms of the future though we can't be complacent as i said earlier we have to focus on issues and there are some important issues we still need to address i'm probably say are over the last three years i said i was going to do a lot of things when i was running and i tried to do as many of those as possible in good faith to get the job done as part of that a lot of it was making some really tough decisions and i'm proud of those decisions because it was about building a long term foundation for a future but there are still things to go things i would put on that list one is transportation arose how many people here do not like our roads raise your hand and i understand if you want a great experience you're supposed to go out to howard beach road i'm what i might suggest to you is we have an opportunity to solve that one of the nice things is occasion i get forms with watch a lot of legislators for the last two years i've been calling for additional revenue for our arose because we've been under investing is basically it's like having a car that you decide you want to do the oil change and because you didn't want to pay the bill for the oil change we need to invest more and it would actually save us money it would save lives create jobs we pay over one hundred dollars more than our surrounding states for repair cost because of road damage we could save all that follows if we invest more and so instead of having that i will be trode i ask you to speak up your legislators to say now is the time i appreciate the work the house is doing now to pass a road package i look forward to working with the senate on it but we have a window here to let's get a long term solution in place it's a great opportunity other things i would mention to you in terms of looking at the future that are really important no number one on my list his talent one of the great challenges we're going to find i talked about the fabulous success the lower unemployment rate here the jobs coming here is we're going to have a serious skills  p we have a skills gap in our country and it's only going to be magnified and actually could inhibit growth where cases could come up where we won't be able to grow if we don't otherwise solve and what do i mean by that again still too much unemployment but still too many open jobs right now there are over seventy thousand open jobs in michigan many are good well paying jobs why is that because what we did was we broke our system in the united states what we did quite few decades ago as we said we really need to get people to have additional skills to be successful and that was the right thing to say but the way we said it is everyone should go get a university degree now i'll tell you we should never back away from encouraging people to g university degree particularly in stem science technology engineering and math so that was the smart car but the dumb thing we did is we didn't equally encourage people to get a skilled trade background to go to career track education whether it be a community college intermediate school district or some other place we messed up and that's our opportunity there are tens of thousands of jobs waiting good well paying jobs jobs it'll pay fifty to eighty thousand dollars a year and i think that should be our top priority and terms of filling all slots so what do we need to do how do you do that i call it telling the three c's we need the private sector all you fine entrepreneurs and business people to step up and do a better job of getting engaged telling us where the demand for jobs are today and tomorrow we need to work more with the education sector and the creation of talent to say what's the supply of talent in terms of wilder's electricians other skilled trades people and then we need to connect those two worlds taking demand and supply and putting them together it's really basic folks but it's not being done well and i want michigan to be number one at doing that it would be a significant competitive advantage for our state for the next to ten years and longer to do it better than anyone a couple parts of this though they're really important redefining what a skilled trade is traditionally if i see a skilled trade a one they'll come up with welder electrician plumber if you're a welder in michigan you can get a job in any corner michigan and probably a day or less a great paying job but the purdah skilled trades are now much broader if you're working in a manufacturing facility odds are you're a skilled trades person because you're running a piece of robotics equipment if you're a farmer today you're a skilled trades person because you're driving a quarter million dollar tractor a half million dollar combine that's run by technology and you need to know how to run it right to give you know a story of a program we created couple years ago it's called matt square actually i brought the german apprenticeship model back to michigan it's michigan advanced technician training it's a pilot year we're doing the oakland community college and henry ford community college and we should doing every car in michigan in my book but how's it work we've got thirty some students they applied to the program they got in they start working for a company right away they're sponsored by a company then they alternate going to school the compan paying their twitching to go to school so they're incurring no school that after three years they come out with an associate's degree or certificate a guaranteed job in a work commitment for two years and the field is m cs mechanical and electronics combined and they're also the folks running the robotics equipment isn't that a cool opportunity isn't that a future we would pretty proud to have our children doing those are the kind of opportunities we can build on next year we intend to expand we're going to do information technology industrial design we should be doing auto technicians when i went to the detroit auto show i had enough demand from a dozen auto dealers for over one hundred auto technicians slots that they didn't even bother to post because they couldn't fill them that's why we need that collaboration we need you to speak up business fall so this is a priory that's an exciting one it's one of the great challenges of our country but it's a great opportunity for michigan what a difference we can make so if you think about it step back that's why i'm always proud excited to be here this is a leadership community this is a free enterprise community that knows how to do innovation right this isn't a community that embraces diversity but you need a market at better folks that understands the power of immigration this is a great opportunity we're coming back here helping lead that comeback in the state of michigan again a quarter million jobs personal incomes rising you can see homes being sold again homes being build again but let's go faster let's bring a fire and passion to the state to say we knew how to build a great michigan before and we can show we can learn from that and do it even better this time and all it requires is us standing up not being different but using really lousy positive action to bring us together without fighting without blame to say here our problems we're going to solve those problems we're going to move forward and we're going to be the leading statement nation i am actually honored to be your governor i'm fired up to help lead this charge i hope you're with me let's have a great fast bowlers show the rest of the world this is the place to be is and how on for the next few days what a great place to live for the long term and michigan's the place to be in terms of a reinvented state thank you so much governor thank you very much my top five years he's going to till the time i'm thinking he should shoot for like at least nine i don't know about you but let's see nine years at well in that deal governor thank you so much for those remarks i don't think we can not come back with that kind of leadership at the helm and that kind of enthusiasm at the helm thank you we'll we're getting close to the end of the luncheon and we we have the winner of the tulip time print in this year's print find my notes here we go this year sprint there we have it was by artist karen nelson and a copy of the original or copy yes is right here it's a wonderful thing you know you'll find it on prints all throughout the city through downtown mugs notes screen savers mouse pads whatever you want it on they'll put it on if you're going to pay money for it so it's all good but it's wonderful it's selling well and this year's print the winner of the drawing which i'm pleased to give to the winter present give to the winner who when i was a slip give to the winner along with john from huntington bank is shannon van noyo from boar's head shannon can you wave at us there she is many thanks again to huntington two for sponsoring that as well as well we did not this year add the blue angels overhead that was some other rumbling sound outside and i'm turning to quinn here to see where we're at with what we're thunder the sun is starting to come up and the last the rain has stopped and it will map rain on our parade excellent news and finally let me just make one one final bit of remark and again another bit of thank you to some of the leaders not only in this community who supported our project that we talked a lot about last year with the windmill but also things that perhaps run of bit under the radar that i want to acknowledge now the project is done in the blades are spinning and that is the incredible leadership that was shown by the state of michigan our local representative chairman joe  haldeman was on the leadership team along with the four speaker of the house bolger and members of that leadership team representative lon instead of us and others are here with us today and governor snyder showed tremendous leadership on that project as well so it wouldn't have gotten done without their help and their assistance so i'd like us to give them one large community thank you for their participation and leadership in this community and really state asset for us thank you very much well it's about time for the parade to begin but before you dismiss if you would avoid crashing the stage here because the governor has to get down to do some things and before he gets into his his dutch costume he's admitted that probably kelsey is going to handle the wooden shoes better than he will will find out great thanks everyone for attending the luncheon for the eighty fifth annual till time festival look forward to a great festival with you and we will see you next year thanks everyone