It’s Happening – Holland Michigan Is Getting A Yellow Brick Road
Holland, Michigan - the city that gave us Holland State Park, Kirk Cousins and heated sidewalks, will now be the home of an actual yellow brick road. There's been a lot of talk for years about doing this, but last week - the yellow brick road started going in.
Why would they have a yellow brick road? Because Holland is where the Wizard of Oz was born.
According to ClickOnDetroit, soon you'll be able to walk through Centennial Park, in Holland, on a real yellow brick road - and see bronze sculptures of Dorothy and the characters from the Wizard of Oz. Frank L. Baum, the author of the original book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (the book in the photo is a third or fourth edition reprint from the 1930s or early 40s), used to spend his summers in Holland. It's said that the wizard's castle in Oz was inspired by a house in Holland that was built to be a replica of a castle. Others say Oz was inspired by the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago or the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. But Holland's building the yellow brick road now - so, Chicago and San Diego - sorry. You snooze, you lose.
And - as a bonus - here's a clip from the original 1910 movie version of The Wizard of Oz. You will never complain about movie special effects again: