9MST0204HD_John McGivern's Main Streets Holland, Michigan Transcript

- I am in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, but I swear, you'd believe I was in the Netherlands.
[upbeat music]

- "John McGivern's Main Streets" thanks the following underwriters:

- Remember when the American dream was being able to say, "I made that. I built that." Wouldn't it be great if your kids and grandkids chose a career that provides that kind of pride, with good pay, but without a ton of student loan debt? A four-year degree isn't the only path to success. We need talented people to make and build on main streets everywhere. Skilled work isn't a thing of the past; it's a bright future.
[exciting music]

- § I'm on my way §
§ Oh, it's time to hit the road §
§ I'm on my way §
§ This is the freedom I live for §
[pleasant music]

- In southeastern Wisconsin, there's a village... 
§ § 
With something for everyone. It's everywhere you look. On every street, behind any door you open, and we want to share it with you. You just gotta see Greendale.

- Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Plum Media, and the Friends of PBS Wisconsin. Thanks, friends!

- § 'Cause these are our main streets §
§ Something 'bout a hometown speaks to me §
§ There's nowhere else I'd rather be §
§ The heart and soul of community's right here §
§ On these main streets §

- John McGivern: I'm in Holland, Michigan. Holland has been ranked as one of the prettiest, healthiest, and happiest places in all of America. Holland spans two counties, and it's on the shores of two lakes-- Lake Macatawa and Lake Michigan. Holland's also known as a great place to raise kids. It's a great place to retire. And even with all of that, that is not what Holland is most known for. So, Emmy, what is Holland most known for?

- Emmy Fink: When most people think of Holland, they think of these, tulips! And for good reason. Five million tulips adorn the parks and city streets every May during Tulip Time festival, celebrating the town's Dutch heritage. In fact, Holland began in 1847, when Dutch Calvinists came to America seeking religious freedom. Many were known for the lumber business and furniture making. Today, it has a population of 33,000, and 28% of those citizens are of Dutch descent.
[Dutch folk music with accordion]

- Let's talk about this island. Let's talk about the park.

- Matt Helmus: We wanted a way to show off our Dutch heritage here. People would come and kind of want to see what this Dutch community was all about, and one way to show that off is a windmill.

- And De Zwaan is the name of--

- Helmus: So, it's the name of the windmill. Each windmill has a different name.

- De Zwaan.

- It's kind of like ships.

- When was this originally built?

- It was actually parts and pieces of some old mills. Our millwright, who was here this spring, pointed out there's some pieces of it that date, he thinks, back to the 13th and 14th centuries.

- Is that right? Is this a typical size of a windmill?

- This is. Windmills come in all different sizes. Some are shorter than you and I. We wanted an actual Dutch working windmill, and we added the brick tower just to get it high enough to catch the wind 'cause we're a little bit off of Lake Michigan here, so we can get some good wind.

- Virginia Kleinheksel: This is the wheat that we grind. It's the Michigan Winter White Wheat. It's a soft wheat grown here in Michigan.

- Okay.

- And this is what we get. It's a whole-wheat stone-ground flour.

- And they get to go all the way up. You get a great view of the city. We get a lot of confusion when visitors come. The whole cap above the red, white, and blue there, will turn around completely depending on which way the wind's coming. Some will say, you know, "Why isn't the windmill turning today? Why don't you turn it on?" Windmills were meant to catch the wind and produce power. And then, out here, during Tulip Time, we plant these large fields here. And we plant about 150,000 tulips.

- That's full of tulips?

- Full of tulips.

- And a street organ.

- It's very popular in Europe, especially Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium. You'll see them at, like, markets and things. And this thing is over 100 years old. We're showing just a slice of life in the Netherlands in a historical sense.

- Is this a village?

- A village or a dorp. We're not trying to be kitschy. We're trying to show off our heritage, as well. These are our gift shops. So everything from Dutch food, Dutch cheese tasting, wooden shoes you can buy, Delft you can buy.

- Oh, I sound just like you now.
[laughs]

- Yeah!

- Could I have another pair of socks, please?
[laughter]

- I have a question. See if you get this right. How many blades does that windmill have?
[quirky music]

It's a trick question.
[quirky music]

- Emmy: You might think the answer would be four, but actually, the windmill only has two blades; they crisscross. Historically, the Dutch have a reputation of being very frugal, so much that a date where both people split the cost is known as "going Dutch." An auction where the price goes down and not up is called a "Dutch auction," But my favorite thing of all is what people in Holland say-- "If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much." I wish I was Dutch.
[upbeat folk music]

§ §

- How big is your foot? We are obviously at the Dutch Village. This began when?

- JP Neils: The theme park has been since 1958. We started out as an educational, historical kind of thing. Earlier history, when your wooden shoemaker would travel around, he would come to your house and measure up your feet and custom-make you--

- Custom-made!

- Oh, here's a wooden shoe in a half size. Uh-huh, after I had my kids, it became really important to me to create this environment where three generations could come and make some fantastic family memories. So that's really what our vision and mission is now. We took this basis that we had, of these historical, educational things. Every village had a weigh house. If you were light enough to fly, then you were guilty of witchcraft.

- Yeah? I am not a witch. It's kind of like an award! You're no witch!

- [JP Neils laughs]

Then, we just added interactive, fun things to them. We've got a petting farm. We've got a swing ride, a carousel. The street organ. We've got the dancing and the shoe carving and all that. We have 22 different kinds of Dutch cheeses that you can taste and try every single one. We've got fudge making. And then, just next to that, we have stroopwafel cookie-making.

- So you can take one of these, and then you can start rolling it in your hand like this. Just kind of warm it up.

- We make them fresh.

- Oh!

- Yeah.

- I've never seen one really made.

- All right, you can shut that if you like.

- If you were to go to Amsterdam, you probably happened over a stroopwafel vendor on the side of the road.

- Yeah. And they're really like a waffle...

- A wafer.

- Wafer? Wafer, yeah.

- And then inside is what?

- It's a caramel syrup.

- And on a really busy day, how many of these are you gonna make, do you think?

- Olivia: Um, a lot.

- Can I have a bite?

- You can have a bite.

- Okay; this is delicious.

- The theme park, that started with my dad and my uncle.

- Yeah.

- But previous to that, we had a tulip farm here in town. In 1922, my great-grandpa purchased the property, so we're celebrating 100 years this year. §
§

- The Holland museum houses an impressive collection of paintings from the Dutch golden age, known to many as the "Dutch masters." Now, Calvinism forbid religious paintings, so artists painted scenes of everyday life. Here's something you may never have noticed. Check out the landscapes. The Netherlands is mostly below sea level, so the artists put the horizon much lower in these paintings than we're used to seeing. Now do you see it? §
§

- Jacob Veldheer: We start with tulips. We have a little over 850 different types of tulips alone.

- So people are buying the bulbs?

- Buying the bulbs and bringing it to their own gardens. You plant them in the fall. They kind of hibernate and grow in the winter so they can bloom in the spring and look absolutely amazing.

- When did the shoes of the Delft show up?

- That showed up in 1985.

- So you create Delft, here...

- Right here.

- In this building.

- Yep, right here on property.

- Deb Herrud: This is the only Delft factory in North America. We're the only one that does the whole process all the way through. Our clay, our glaze, and paint come from the Netherlands.

- Jacob Veldheer: They kind of specialize over there...

- Sure.

- But half the store here was actually poured, glazed, fired, painted, everything, right here on site.

- So it takes about four weeks from start to finish.

- It's beautiful stuff.

- The beautiful thing about it-- that none of them looks the same. Every piece is individual. It's all a little bit variation.

- Yeah, let's talk about the shoes.

- When we carve, we like to use poplar because it's soft.

- Who's looking for that?

- A lot of tourists. They'll get them for Dutch dancing, to be part of their community. And other people, I know, love to do, like, gardening. They're kind of nice for mowing the lawn in.

- Uh-huh?

- That way, you don't get your good shoes full of the green goop and junk and all that.

- And the wooden shoes will take that easily.

- Oh, they love it.

- Hose them right off. I didn't know what a wood chip tasted like before!

- [laughs]

- Those are little ones.

- Yeah, these are little ones. If you want a lot bigger shoe, switch out the templates and cut a bigger piece of wood to go in.

- We're going to get a gift for Emmy's baby-- not sure if it's a boy or girl, but these are going to work perfectly. Come on, unisex wooden shoes.

- On the wall behind us is all the different size templates you can use.

- Number 29, here we have it. They look bigger than what I'm used to, of course, but not quite as big as these. §
§ These are real slip-ons.

- From there, we let it sit for two to three months, so it kind of dries out completely. That way, it's easier to sand down. 
§ §

- I'm just not sure where I'm going to wear them. There's no place like Holland! There's no place like Holland! 
§ §
[bright orchestral music]

I have to believe that there's a relationship between L. Frank Baum and the city of Holland.

- Linda Hart: So, it's 1899, and Frank Baum vacationed here in a little area called Macatawa. And he built a cottage on Lake Michigan, and it is said by his great-great-grandson that a lot of his inspiration came for writing the book. So, for example, there was a little girl who lived two doors down. Her name was Dorothy. There is a castle just south of Holland called Castle Park, and that castle is very instrumental in obviously the book and in the movie as well. And obviously, we have a lot of yellow brick here in Holland, and Holland wanted to honor that history that we had here.

- If you take a look at any of these characters, they don't look like the characters in the movie. She looks like my aunt Agnes, just so you know. So they sure look like the characters in the book. Yeah. 
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I'm in front of Calvary Reformed Church on 8th Street. In 1989, a youth leader began a fashion trend right here that is still going today. What do you think that is? 
§ §

- What's the fashion trend started in Holland, Michigan? The "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelets were introduced here in 1989. You know, it could also stand for What Would John Do? I'm just saying.
[quirky music]

- Did you know that northern Michigan produces 75% of all of the tart cherries in the country? And you can find most of them right here at the Cherry Republic. They sell only products made from Michigan cherries. It all started over 30 years ago with a cookie. This is it, the cherry Boomchunka. Yeah. Mm. Oh, for God's sake-- Oh, my God. Now they have over 200 products, and they give away samples. Chocolate-covered cherries? Are you supposed to just take one? It's hot. Why?
[laughs]

Cherry-rhubarb jam.
[soft acoustic music]

Mm! 
§ § 
I need a straw. 
§ § 

I'm on Holland's main street, which is really 8th Street. Holland gets 70 inches of snow each year. And no matter what, the sidewalks always look like this-- never any shoveling. Okay. How is that possible? 
§ §

- Keith Van Beek: So, we are using heat that's no longer helpful in the electric generation process to heat up the water that then is distributed to downtown. So it's, in effect, free energy that we're using to power the snowmelt system.

- Dave Koster: We operate what's called a natural-gas combined cycle facility. This is the pipe that leaves our power plant with about 6,700 gallons per minute, in the wintertime, of water heated to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. We start with a combustion turbine. This is what one looks like, right here. There's two different things going on at the same time. We're taking gas and burning it in those combustion turbines, and they are the ones that are actually making electricity at first. The next step is all those hot gases coming off the back end. And it changes water into steam inside a boiler. We condense the steam back to water, and then going out is the heated-up water. Why don't you turn that wheel just a little bit to the right and divert some of that energy that way? Oh, there you go. Hey, you just melted some of that snow, John. You can take that heat.

- It's not really snow.

- Well, sure! You just have to use your imagination here a little bit.

- How long has this been up?

- Since 2017.

- Yeah.

- And we've actually been able to lower rates in our community as a result of it. And actually, next year, this power plant will be completely paid for. We'll pay off the debt of it. So it's been a tremendous success for our community.

- In my mind's eye, this is what I see underneath the sidewalk, just tubing all over this five miles.

- The tubing, we cover that with sand, and then we put pavers on top of that. And that's what melts the snow up to an inch an hour.

- Come on, I live in downtown Milwaukee, and this is what I want.

- We get calls from all over the world that say, "What do I need to do to have this?" Yeah, not everyone has that opportunity.

- Thanks for your time.

- Yeah, thank you.

- Good job.

- Thanks.

- Michigan has about 125 lighthouses, and this is definitely the most photographed. It's called 'Big Red.' It was built in 1907 to house a steam-powered foghorn. The light finally got electricity in the 1930s. And in the 1970s, it was set to be torn down, but because of a letter-writing campaign done by the citizens of Holland, it was saved. It was saved to be an inspiration to photographers and to painters and to people who just love old lighthouses.
[upbeat music]

I'm inside MillerKnoll. You may know this company as Herman Miller. Do you know a classic Herman Miller chair? No, you do. Take a look. I just heard you all at home going, "Oh, yeah, now I know."

- Amy Auscherman: Herman Miller started as Star Furniture in 1905. We made antique reproduction furniture, so, stuff that was made to look old. And then our founder, D.J. De Pree, solicited a loan from his father-in-law, Herman Miller, to purchase Star Furniture Company outright, renamed it Herman Miller, and then, by the early '30s, had hired an industrial designer and convinced Herman Miller the company to make modern furniture instead of what you could call "fake antiques," I guess.

- Fake antiques. Now, look at-- that's classic, this man.

- Doesn't he look cool?

- I want to know him.

- It's what we think of as, like, the beginnings of modern furniture, in terms of what sort of materials were being used-- so, tubular steel, Masonite, or Plexiglas.

- I mean, this is stuff that's going to be around forever, it seems.

- Ryan Anderson: Yeah. I think that's the goal of modern design, right? If you really solve a problem with a design, it doesn't feel old. They don't look dated, because they weren't designed just to fit some period style.

- Yeah.

- They're designed to solve a problem. It's about supporting you comfortably.

- I'm sitting in what is known as Wilkes modular seating, but it's really well known as the "Chicklet chair." Are you wondering why?

- Herman Miller and Knoll were both very well known for modern design furniture brands. So this is a good example of what you're going to see more of, which is a neighborhood within an office environment. We've got other brands that are known for modern design of furniture as well, but also textiles, things of that nature.

- So this is not just furniture.

- No, it's what you need to create a great place, whether that's a workplace, a home, hospital, higher-education facility.

- All of it.

- Yeah, we try to create spaces that people really love and that help to connect communities, but ultimately, they need to be more desirable because people can work anywhere, and we want to make sure their offices are places that they love. Now you've got the best ab workout of your day, there, buddy.

- There we go. Oh, my Lord! Okay.

- [laughs]

- Hey, Emmy, I would bring you something back, but you know, you're going to have a baby in about a minute.

- True, I guess I can't drink it right now. But I wish I was there because this interesting steampunk still produces some of Michigan's most popular bourbons and spirits. When the company was founded in 2012, the founders dedicated themselves to produce products that are made in small batches, are heavily aged, and feature local ingredients. Okay, John, I changed my mind. Go back. Get me the bourbon. Hopefully it's only a few more days before I can drink it!
[upbeat acoustic music]

- Kory Gier: Say you lived in this area, a storm came through, knocked down a few trees on your property?

- Yeah.

- You'd probably call a local tree service. There's a good chance we work with that tree service and the trees will end up here. About 90% of our trees come from Michigan. We work with various hardwoods. Then, once in a while, we'll get some different things come up. For example, this is actually called "flaming box elder."

- Take a look at that.

- We had a couple calls-- "Hey, we've got these really unique trees "we're about to take down. Do you have any interest?" "Yup. "Yes! Come our way. Please bring them as fast as you can!" So out of this piece of wood, we would get a 17-inch, a 15-inch, a 12-inch, and a 9-inch.

- Yeah, that's amazing. How long a process?

- Once the bowl is made, from start to finish, about four weeks or so. It has to go...

- Four weeks.

- Through a drying process. So if you feel that, you can feel the moisture in there.

- It's almost wet.

- Yeah.

- Now, how many bowls can come out of here, a week or a day or--

- On a typical day, we make 150 to 200.

- You do.

- 800 to 1,000 a week. We have 25 employees.

- 25.

- Yep. We have my mom working hard over here, Jan. It's a family company that my great grandfather started, so I'm fourth generation.

- How old is this thing?

- My grandpa had this made in the early '50s.

- And it's still working.

- Still working.

- Dave, that looks great. Did you go to parochial school?
[laughs]

Your penmanship is perfect.

- So we're a zero-waste company, so we're always trying to come up with different ideas to utilize all of our wood. We utilize every part of the tree. Nothing ends up in the landfill.

- Yeah.

- Excess wood-- that can be made into the bowls. It's made into our utensils, cutting boards, candlestick. Shavings are also dried out for grilling-chip bags.

- So that's a 20-inch?

- This is a 20-inch.

- Is that as big as they get?

- Yes, this is as big as they get.

- OK, because that would be ridiculous, wouldn't it? Do you have a bowl at home?

- I have several.

- You have a few?

- A few, yeah.

- Do you display, or do you use?

- Both.

- Yeah.

- Some of them are just too pretty to use.

- That's the truth, isn't it? I'm just saying. How great is that?

- So tell me this. Have you ever walked underneath a sand dune? Well, you can in Holland. A quick stroll underneath this sand dune leads to this spectacular view at Tunnel Park. It's one of Holland's eight amazing beaches. With 2 million visitors a year, Holland State Park is the premier spot for boating, swimming, and fishing. Close by is the Pump House Museum, where you can learn about how people enjoyed these beaches over 100 years ago. §
§

- People always want to know where the locals eat. Well, this is where the locals get their ice cream. It's Captain Sundae. It opened in 1980, and it's really popular with people on their way to Ottawa Beach, which is at the state park, or on their way home from Ottawa Beach State Park. And their signature item is called the Tommy Turtle Sundae. Mm-hmm. §
§ Mm! Just so you know, if you don't want to seem like a tourist, all you have to say is "I'll have a Tommy." Yeah. §
§ So we'd love to know about Hope College itself.

- Lenny Banovez: Hope College has about 3,300 students. It's a liberal arts college with four accredited arts programs. There's about 30 academic buildings and about 25 residential cottages and dorms-- things like that.

- Do you know when this college opened?

- 1866.

- There's some history.

- Yeah, there is. There's lots of history. Hope Rep-- 50 years of that.

- 50 years.

- Yeah. Started by John Tammi and Don Finn in 1972, and started it primarily because they finally had a theater that had air conditioning. It was the only air-conditioned theater in Western Michigan, and that's why they started it.
[laughs]

- Shut the door.

- So when I knew we were coming to Holland, I said, we've got to talk about their summer rep.

- It's one of the main kind of, like, summer stays-- like Peninsula Players.

- Right.

- You know, and even working at the Milwaukee Rep as long as I did, everybody always talked about Hope Rep.
[cast singing]

- Yeah, we are an international company. This year, we had people from as far as Moscow and Japan. We do have four spaces. We have two in the DeWitt. We have one in here. And then we have the historic Knickerbocker downtown.

- At the height of a season, how many people are you working with?

- You're looking at 100 to 110-- between the acting company and the production team. It's a beautiful town, beautiful surrounding areas. You can find nature if you want it. You can find a good beer if you want it.

- Yeah.

- And you can find some really, really great theater if you want it.
[laughter]

- So and we're swimming in an aroma right here that's remarkable.

- This is a good one.

- Oh, this is heaven.

- Yeah.

- What generation are you that's been with us--

- Jacob deBoer: We are fifth-generation bakers. My opa had a bakery in the Netherlands.

- "Opa."

- And then he opened a bakery with another guy in Holland here. My dad bought it in the '70s. And then, now we're just continuing to carry on that craftsmanship-- the Krakelingen cookies that you have, the banket, the currant broodjies, the Pigs in a Blanket that we make-- very Dutch.

- And if you were to describe Dutch bakery, is it less sweet than most?

- Samuel deBoer: No, I would say it's the sweetest and the richest--

- Really?

- Oh, yeah. The Dutch are known for their sweets. That's our specialty.

- So what is that called?

- Krakelingen.

- "Krakelingen?"

- Takes three days to make this cookie. We make it-- scratch, every day. We sell tons and tons and tons of them.

- And say the name again, I'm sorry.

- Krackelingen.

- And is that an old recipe?

- Oh, yeah.

- From the old country?

- Yeah. 30%, 40% of our recipes are still, like my grandfather's recipes, recipes my father used--

- Yeah.

- So, lots of sugar--

- Lots of sugar, lots of butter--

- Lots of sugar, lots of butter, lots of milk.

- We're in Holland, Michigan. And there's the challah-- which I didn't know was Dutch! It's beautiful.

- But we also like to celebrate all the different multiculturals in this area.

- We also make Irish soda bread here.

- You do?

- We make Hispanic products.

- So you're the youngest of three?

- Jacob deBoer: Youngest of three. I've got two older brothers, as well. My brother Mitchiel, he's the chef of the restaurant. And then my brother Samuel, he is the baker.

- He's the baker. Dutch butter cakes?

- Dutch butter cakes.

- There's the bakery and you have a restaurant as well. So was the restaurant first?

- The restaurant was first. And then it was like the Field of Dreams. If you build it, they will come. We let that restaurant just be its own big restaurant.

- Yeah.

- And we still have a bakery over there as well. And then, at this location we do all of your wonderful baked goods-- donuts, breads, cookies, pastries. And we also do your hand-dipped double-fried chicken.

- The deBoer boys do it all.

- We do.
[upbeat music]

- Holland, Michigan-- the perfect combination of old-world traditions and modern amenities. No wonder people love it year-round.

- § There's nowhere else I'd rather be §
§ The heart and soul of communities §

- This is not comfortable. I need-- I need a Herman Miller. I am in Escanaba, Michigan.

- No, you're in Holland.

- What the-- Do you know what I've found, in my long life? Once you find a pair you like, you lose one.

- Hi, John, you're right!
[laughs]

- Let's do that again.

- One more time!

- Then we gotta-- then we gotta quit.

- "John McGivern's Main Streets" thanks the following underwriters:

- Remember when the American dream was being able to say, "I made that. I built that." Wouldn't it be great if your kids and grandkids chose a career that provides that kind of pride, with good pay, but without a ton of student loan debt? A four-year degree isn't the only path to success. We need talented people to make and build on main streets everywhere. Skilled work isn't a thing of the past; it's a bright future.
[exciting music]

- § I'm on my way §
§ Oh, it's time to hit the road §
§ I'm on my way §
§ This is the freedom I live for §
[pleasant music]

- In southeastern Wisconsin, there's a village... With something for everyone. It's everywhere you look. On every street, behind any door you open, and we want to share it with you. You just gotta see Greendale.

- Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Plum Media and the Friends of PBS Wisconsin. Thanks, friends!

- It all finally makes sense to me, what my father used to say-- John, you've got big shoes to fill. Little did I know that they were in Holland, Michigan!