Water Damage Restoration in Holland, MI

Holland Aquatic Center offers free showers, how to support local businesses

According to various releases from officials, Holland Aquatic Center is offering access to their facility for showers for any affected residents for free. If you wish to use the pool, you can pay the resident rate, rather than the non-resident rate. Be sure to bring proof of address.

Holland Aquatic Center is located at 550 Maple Ave. The center is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays, 5:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays.

The Saugatuck/Douglas Convention and Visitors Bureau is also asking for community support for local businesses that have been forced to close during the natural gas outage, in particular restaurants.

“Our local restaurants are the heartbeat of this community,” wrote Bureau Executive Director Lisa Mize. “They’re the places where we gather, celebrate, and connect. Right now, they need us more than ever.”

Suggestions include buying a gift card, rescheduling reservations rather than cancelling, ordering from limited take-out menus, tipping generously and spreading the word.

Emergency shelter open for those without heat

In response to the ongoing natural gas outage affecting households in the Fennville, Douglas and Saugatuck area, local municipalities have coordinated to open a community emergency shelter, according to Allegan County Emergency Management.

The shelter opened at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 10, at Third Coast Community Church, 6069 Blue Star Highway. The shelter will offer essential services and support, but residents planning to stay are encouraged to bring medications, identification, personal hygiene supplies, bedding if possible, changes of clothing and important documents.

For transportation assistance (hours ended at 9 p.m. Thursday), call Allegan County Transportation at 269-673-4229 or the Interurban Transit Authority at 269-857-1418.

Allegan County Emergency Management provides safe warming tips

Allegan County Emergency Management has released safe warming tips for locals without heat during the natural gas outage. They include:

Officials remind locals to never:

Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headache, dizziness, nausea, confusion or weakness. If symptoms appear, seek fresh air and medical attention, officials said.

Those in need of housing assistance, officials said, should call the American Red Cross at 1-800-RED-CROSS.

Open hotels, homes for warming

Mill Pond Realty has several large homes on propane or Semco service for families or those who are willing to share. Call 269-857-1477 for more information.

Saugatuck Township confirmed both AmericInn by Wyndham Douglas/Saugatuck and Best Western Plaza Hotel Saugatuck are unaffected by the outage.

Campit Outdoor Resort has a limited number of heated cabins available for free to those without heat at home. Call 269-543-4300 for more information.

Officials advise residents not to touch meters

In an update, Michigan Gas Utilities said crews will begin to circulate the area Thursday, April 10, shutting off gas at each customer's meter. Once the pipeline is repaired, the company said, crews will visit again and safely restore service.

Customers should not turn off their own meters, officials said.

MGU added customers don't need to turn off gas service to their appliances, since natural gas is no longer being fed into the pipeline.

Lows in 30s, highs in 40s until Sunday

The temperature was 32 degrees, the weather wet and snowy, when Michigan Gas Utilities confirmed 5,200 households in Saugatuck, Douglas, Saugatuck Township, Ganges Township, Clyde Township and Fennville would likely be without natural gas for multiple days.

Warmer weather is coming, but it will be a difficult stretch for residents in the tri-communities area. According to The Weather Channel, the forecast has lows of 32, 32 and 39 degrees Thursday, Friday and Saturday, respectively. Corresponding highs were forecast at 46, 46 and 49 degrees.

Allegan County Emergency Management is working to establish warming stations for impacted residents.

'Major' gas leak could leave residents, restaurants without heat for days

A major gas line leak was reported this afternoon in the area of Fennville and Clyde Township, according to a release issued by Saugatuck Township.

According to a social media post from city officials in Fennville, approximately 5,200 customers of Michigan Gas Utilities in Saugatuck, Douglas, Saugatuck Township, Ganges Township, Clyde Township and Fennville are without natural gas.

MGU, in a recent update, said gas is no longer being fed into the damaged pipeline.

"MGU is working closely with the transmission pipeline operator to ensure service is restored as quickly and safely as possible," the company wrote. "Due to the type of damage, service may not be fully restored for several days."

There are no longer any roads closed due to the leak, and any residents that were evacuated are able to return to their homes.

Allegan County Emergency Management is working to establish warming stations for impacted residents.

Various businesses posted they're closed without gas. The Sentinel is working on a list of eateries that remain open and serving customers.

The west Michigan city is the backdrop for the new Nicole Kidman thriller, which hits streaming this week.

The Detroit News

Holland — The season's first tulips won't bloom here for another month, but this west Michigan town was able to celebrate its moment in the sun this week during the hometown premiere of the new Hollywood thriller bearing its name.

"Holland," starring Nicole Kidman, played to a spirited sold-out crowd Monday at Hope College's 500-seat Knickerbocker Theatre in the center of the city's downtown. Kidman didn't make the trek, but the film's director, Mimi Cave, was on hand, as was the town's mayor, as were a lot of curious Hollanders, who were ready to see their city depicted on the big screen.

"Everybody's excited, everybody's been sharing the trailer on Facebook," said Sarah Schemper, who attended the free screening with her husband, Greg.

They've been residents of this "safe, small town" with its proud Dutch ancestry for nearly 20 years. "It's quirky here," said Greg Schemper, a teacher at Holland Christian High School, "but it's also tight-knit, and we care about each other."

"Holland" plays up those quirks, as well as the city's tight-knit, small-town feel.

Kidman plays Nancy Vandergroot, a home economics teacher at Holland High School who suspects her husband, Fred ("Succession's" Matthew Macfadyen), might be cheating on her.

While investigating his potential infidelity, she enlists the help of a fellow teacher, Dave Delgado (Gael García Bernal), and together they uncover some deeply hidden secrets, while Nancy crosses marital lines with infidelity of her own. The darkly comic mystery is available to stream beginning Thursday on Amazon Prime Video.

At Monday's screening, tickets for which were snatched up in two hours, shots of Holland's historic De Zwaan windmill drew huge cheers, references to the city's Tulip Time festival and to neighboring communities got big laughs, and the audience was audibly on board with the story's many twists and turns.

The hometown crowd made for "the best screening I've seen of this film," said JC Molina, "Holland's" production designer. And that wasn't just because after the screening, he and Cave were both gifted a bouquet of tulips by Mayor Nathan Bocks.

Welcome to Holland, Michigan

The story of "Holland" — once titled "Holland, Michigan" — dates back more than a decade.

In 2013, its Andrew Sodroski-penned script topped the Black List, Hollywood's annual roundup of its best unproduced screenplays. At one point, it was set to go into production with Bryan Cranston and Naomi Watts in the lead roles.

When that iteration of the film fell apart, Amazon acquired the rights to the story, and Kidman eventually came on board as a producer and star. Kidman took the film to Cave, who was fresh off her 2022 cannibal thriller "Fresh" at the time.

Cave, who grew up outside of Chicago in St. Charles, Illinois, felt her Midwest upbringing gave her an insight into "Holland's" world.

"The characters are relatable," said Cave, during an interview before the premiere at Hope College's Haworth Hotel, just a block from the Knickerbocker. "It's not too different from the suburb I grew up in, it's not that far away. So it felt like I knew these people already."

Cave, 41, made a half-dozen trips to Holland during pre-production for the film, getting to know the city, its style and its characteristics. She and Molina spent time with locals, including lifelong Holland residents Elizabeth and Michael Israels, who acted as on-the-ground ambassadors to the filmmakers and helped them get to know the ins and outs of Holland.

"They came to our house, we sat in our kitchen, and we bought some Dutch food for them to try," said Elizabeth Israels, who attended Monday's screening. She said their meeting lasted several hours, and they discussed everything from the town's history to its ethnicity to its relationship with tulips.

When residents were curious as to how the movie would depict their city, "we would explain to them, 'it's in the world of 'Fargo,'" said Cave, who made the film in 2023. "It's set in Holland, but we're not saying anything negative about Holland."

She was set on shooting "Holland" in Michigan, but the state's lack of tax incentives for film productions made it financially unfeasible. Most of the movie wound up shooting in Clarksville, Tennessee, northwest of Nashville and close to the Kentucky border, although Cave did shoot in Holland for three days, including a scene that was rewritten to take place inside the town's windmill. Kidman and Bernal's characters discuss their plan inside the landmark, which was brought to Holland from the Netherlands in 1964.

Gwen Auwerda, Tulip Time's executive director, said "Holland" filmmakers reached out to her team and members of the community for guidance on traditional Dutch dancing and costuming for the film's sequence set during the festival's annual parade.

Plans to shoot during the Tulip Time parade fell apart due to logistics, in part due to the film's period setting — it takes place in the year 2000, which would have required a full-scale makeover on a lot of the downtown buildings.

"In a way, I think it may have been better," said Cave, who noted the scale of the production might have taken away from the actual Tulip Time parade. "It's hard to bring in that much stuff and not have it be a disruption."

Molina, who grew up in Northern California, says he came away from his "Holland" experience with a warm appreciation for the town, its residents, and its heritage.

"What a beautiful, bizarre, fascinating little town," he said. "I've never seen this level of pride in a culture — I'm Mexican-American, so that's a very difficult culture, but it's the same amount of pride, but for the Dutch. It's amazing."

Inviting everyone

Bocks is beaming with pride, both for the town where he serves and the potential of the new movie.

Bocks, who became mayor in 2020 and still holds down a full-time job as an attorney (he had client appointments all day Monday), said when he got wind the movie was coming to town, "I made a note to the production crew that if Nicole Kidman needed a leading man that I was available," he said. "Apparently, they didn't need me."

All jokes aside, he said he did audition to play a tour guide in the movie but didn't get the part. "They said they needed someone who faded into the background a little bit more than me."

Bocks said Holland, which will host between 600,000 and 1 million visitors during May's Tulip Time festival, "is one of those communities that actually has a personality, which is, I think, one of the reasons the movie's here."

He saw the movie a few weeks ago — he said he considered going to Austin, Texas, this month for the film's South by Southwest world premiere, but flights were too pricey — and said he's been telling folks who may be concerned about the town's depiction in the film that it's not a documentary. "It takes place here, but it's not about us," he said.

At Monday's event, Bocks posed for pictures underneath the Knickerbocker marquee with Cave and Molina, as well as community members who came dressed in traditional Dutch garb. During an introduction to the screening, he riffed on one of the lines Kidman's character says in the movie: "Every morning, we get to wake up in the best place on Earth," he said. "They got to make a movie about Holland, Michigan, but we get to live here."

He then presented Cave with a custom pair of wooden shoes, which included logos of the city, the movie and this year's Tulip Time festival.

Critics have been tough on the film, which so far has earned a scant 37% fresh score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Much of the criticism comes from some of its third-act plot developments.

But it got good marks from the audience on Monday.

"It was fun, very entertaining. I laughed a lot," Holland resident Charlie Mosterd said after the screening. His wife, Leah, said she enjoyed the specificity of its storytelling, but wondered how well some of its details would translate for those outside the Holland bubble.

Inside the bubble, Bocks said it's important that Hollanders have a sense of humor about themselves, and said he feels the town gets a fair shake in the movie.

"It makes Holland look very good," he said. "I've said to folks who are concerned, I've said listen, this is an amazing community. Anybody who watches the movie and might think anything bad, come. Come here, stay here for an hour, you will be won over.

"This is an absolutely fantastic community, and I cherish the opportunity for people to come to Holland and see what we're like. And if this movie brings people to the community? All the better."

agraham@detroitnews.com

'Holland'

Rated R: for some bloody violence, language and brief sexuality

Running time: 108 minutes

Premieres Thursday on Amazon Prime Video

HOLLAND, MI -- While many Michiganders may be cursing this spring cold spell, the Holland’s Parks and Recreation is all smiles.

The progress on the city’s iconic tulip beds is looking positive, said Jamie Scott, Parks and Cemetery Deputy Director.

“I’m really happy with how everything is growing,” he said.

Across the city, the Tulip Time Festival has between 5 million and 6 million tulips blooming from Windmill Island to the Veldheers Tulip Farm.

The 96th annual festival is starting a day early, with events every day from Friday, May 2 through Sunday, May 11.

RELATED: Tulip Time’s 2025 schedule starts a day early, tickets on sale

In preparation, the parks department planted 640,000 tulips across Holland’s downtown parks and roadways.

That includes the 30,000 to 50,000 tulips in pots along the city greenhouse waiting for their debut on Tulip Time parade floats and other festival events.

More than 100 varieties of late-blooming tulips were planted, with bulbs imported from the Netherlands.

RELATED: Holland planted the seeds with Tulip Time. Now the other 51 weeks are blossoming.

This weekend will mark a three-week countdown until the annual festival brings half a million visitors to town.

Of course, Michigan weather can change a lot of three weeks.

Last year, a string of warm, sunny days started the bloom early, pushing the department to bring pots of tulips inside to a cooler.

If the reverse happens, and temperatures remain cold, Scott said they’ll move tulip pots to the greenhouse to encourage growth.

The parks department does daily rounds checking out its bulbs, assessing for animal or vehicle damage and checking soil temperatures.

This year, the department replanted tulip lanes along 28th Street, Central Ave and State Street. These improvements are making Scott optimistic for a “better showing” all around town.

Last month, the parks department forced some early blooms for the town’s sold-out premiere of the Nicole Kidman thriller, ‘Holland’, which was partly filmed at Windmill Island.

Anxious to see the first signs of color? Keep tabs on the blooms at www.cityofholland.com/1022/Tulip-Tracker.

RELATED: New Holland Brewing’s next restaurant bringing popular bar snack to Grand Haven

RELATED: Two artists, 2,000 miles apart: Holland artist sketching homes lost in the LA wildfires

HOLLAND — Hollanders must say goodbye to a fast food drive-thru known for burgers, fries and sodas.

Customers attempting to order at Checkers at 54 Eighth Ave. in Holland were met with signage announcing "this location is closed" over the weekend. The roadside sign also lists the business as "closed" under a previous message advertising crispy fish.

The sign is posted at least four times across the restaurant's facade, along with the name and phone number of franchisee Mike Burkhardt. The restaurant is still listed on Google as open, and on the Checkers website.

The eatery opened in July 2013 to resounding local support, reaching sales of $60,000 per week and approximately 900 cars per day during the first two weeks.

Burkhardt, at the time, said the location set a sales record in the state of Michigan, and potentially nationwide.

“I’ve heard from corporate that it’s a record for a single drive-thru with no dining room in the whole United States,” Burkhardt said. “We doubled what we thought we’d open with that first week.”

Burkhardt did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

It’s no secret that, post-COVID, restaurants have struggled, with dwindling profit margins, changing safety protocols, high employment turnover and harsh inflation, according to owners and experts

The closure is the sixth eatery to close in Holland over the past six weeks, joining Gateway Mission’s The Spoon, On the Border, Good Earth Café and Dickey's Barbecue.

In 2024, The Sentinel reported numerous restaurant closures, including Mario's Pizza and Spaghetti House, Jackie's Place, Playa Tacos and Tequila, Ferris Coffee, Rock'N Roosta, The Mermaid Bar and Grill, Baldy's Smoked Meats, Guardian Brewing and JK's Café.

There are currently three other Checkers locations in West Michigan, including two in Grand Rapids and another in Muskegon.

— Contact reporter Austin Metz atametz@hollandsentinel.com.

The biggest mystery in the Nicole Kidman thriller “Holland” is how to keep from falling asleep. Since it’s streaming on Prime Video, Amazon really should throw in a coffee maker so you can make it to the film's lackluster denouement.

“Holland” (★½ out of four; rated R; streaming now) immerses Kidman in Midwestern malaise, taking the A-lister to a Michigan town known for its tulips, ginormous windmill and Dutch festival fare. Her Lifetime-esque potboiler centers on a bored working mom who discovers her husband might not be on the level, but while the locale is postcard idyllic, the narrative is a never-ending slog, only getting halfway interesting with a silly third-act twist and a suddenly bloody finale.

“Every day I get to wake up in the best place on Earth,” says Nancy Vandergroot (Kidman), almost trying to convince herself that her perfect life isn’t perfectly boring.

Nancy's biggest issues seem to be her 13-year-old son Harry (Jude Hill) being “cheesed off” at her and wondering if disinterested babysitter Candy (Rachel Sennott) stole one of her pearl earrings. She teaches life skills at the high school, where she sips on a Hi-C juice box during chats with shop teacher pal Dave (Gael García Bernal), and comes home to strait-laced optometrist husband Fred (Matthew Macfadyen) when he’s not traveling for work. Which is often.

But drawing ketchup hearts on meatloaf isn’t doing it for Nancy anymore. She’s haunted by weird nightmares and increasingly restless when she discovers small clues that make her believe Fred isn’t being entirely truthful about where he’s been going.

When she worries about him cheating, Dave tries to have her keep things in perspective – he even wonders aloud to her what we’re all thinking, like who’s going to hook up with this dull eye doctor? However, Dave also fosters strong feelings for Nancy, so he becomes a willing participant in her sneaky missions to seek out evidence. Along the way, Nancy and Dave dig up something wholly unexpected that puts a damper on their enjoying Holland’s Tulip Time parade.

Directed by Mimi Cave, who helmed the more confidently bonkers “Fresh,” “Holland” is a slice of underwhelming disturbia that wastes its actors and its premise. Holland, Michigan, is REALLY into tulips and offers a lot of potentially interesting visuals and plot points, yet much of the thriller could have been set anywhere. There is one creative use of a wooden clog that’s pretty inspired, and a couple of scenes with Kidman in Dutch wardrobe that are unsettling, purposefully or not.

Kidman has done better nervy performances than this, but she also doesn’t have a ton to work with in Andrew Sodroski’s script: There are quite a few seeds planted that tease to Nancy’s mysterious backstory but frustratingly fail to bear fruit. Bernal is solid as a man who lets love get in the way of making smart decisions for his own well-being, while Macfadyen, one of the best things about “Succession,” gets the best role. Fred is as white bread as they come, happily sharing his massively detailed train set with his boy, yet the British actor does darkly smarmy better than most anyone.

While “Holland” has decent star power, it whiffs on its comedic tones, sinister underpinnings and a mystery that doesn’t exactly satisfy. Instead of playing with your mind and a sense of reality, this forgettable flick will just make you snooze.