San Francisco and the Netherlands have many things in common: one of them is their mutual love of the color orange. The City of San Francisco will be seeing orange again, as the Dutch community celebrates Queen’s Day 2011 with a festival on Union Square.

On April 30th each year, the Dutch gather to celebrate the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands. The biggest celebration takes place in Amsterdam, where orange-clad crowds take to the streets to mark this day of national pride with vrijmarkts (“free markets”), open air concerts, and orange-themed food and beverages.

The Dutch Consulate, together with the local Dutch community, brings a taste of the Amsterdam celebration to San Francisco for Queen’s Day 2011. Union Square will be filled with all things Dutch, including orange tulips (grown near the Dutch windmill in Golden Gate Park), Dutch cheeses and delicacies, a vrijmarkt (organized by and for children), typical Dutch games for children and families, a classical music concert by the winners of the Princess Christina Concours, music by San Francisco-based Dutch DJ Mark van Brabant, a beer garden, and much more.

After one year in its new home in San Francisco’s Financial District, the Dutch Consulate is excited
to share the 2011 Queen’s Day celebration with the greater San Francisco community.