Rosie the Riveter Netherlands tulip ceremony set
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ELKINS – A historic Rosie the Riveter ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil an extraordinary tulip is scheduled for Oct. 26 at the All-Veterans Memorial Park on Railroad Avenue.
The event will begin at 11 a.m. and will feature the planting of a tulip that was developed in the Netherlands as a tribute to a group of American women who helped win World War II.
The public is invited to attend the event, and special invitations have been sent out to descendants of Rosie the Riveters to personally help plant the special tulip. A representative of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Washington. D.C. will participate in the ceremony, which will bring together government and community leaders, veterans, Rosie families, garden clubs and civic organizations.
“Children and descendants of Rosies will have an opportunity to place a tulip bulb into West Virginia soil in honor or memory of the women who served their family and their country,” event organizer and Emma Scott Garden Club member Linda Shomo told The Inter-Mountain. “Families throughout Randolph County and beyond are encouraged to search their family histories and remember the women who served on the home front.”
In addition to the Netherlands tulip, approximately 500 more Rosie the Riveter Tulip bulbs have been provided for the tribute. The tulip has been years in development and is not expected to be generally available to the public for several more years. The bulbs will be planted around the bronze Rosie the Riveter statue that is located in All-Veterans Memorial Park.
“Imagine what those flowers will represent when they rise from the ground and bloom,” Shomo said. “Hundreds of loving reminders of women whose hands once helped build the machinery, grow the food, and sustain the nation that helped win a world war… The Rosie statue and the tulips surrounding it will stand together as symbols of service, freedom, agriculture, sacrifice, remembrance and international friendship.”
The connection between the United State and the Netherlands during World War II is especially meaningful.
“During the war, American service members helped liberate the Netherlands from Nazi occupation,” Shomo said. “At home, millions of American women stepped forward to keep the nation running. They built aircraft, ships, weapons and vehicles while working in factories and farms. They also served in vital support positions and planted Victory Gardens to help feed their families, communities and a nation at war.”
Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon that represents the women who worked in factories and shipyards during the war. Any woman who received pay for any essential work during war is considered a Rosie.
The 6-foot-3-inch bronze Rosie the Riveter statue was placed behind the Gold Star Families Memorial Monument at the All-Veterans Memorial Park in July 2025. It is the only Rosie the Riveter statue of its kind in West Virginia, and was a project of the Emma Scott Garden Club.
For more information on the event, email ace99900@aol.com.