Tulip Time in Pella, Iowa

The United States is a nation of immigrants, and there are countless small towns scattered across the country (especially in the midwest) that were founded by one immigrant group or another. But it's hard to find a town that shows off its immigrant heritage as prominently or as proudly as the town of Pella, Iowa. 

Pella was founded in 1847 by a group of about 800 Dutch immigrants who were seeking religious freedom and greater economic opportunity in the New World, and many of today's residents are descended from these original settlers. One resident quipped that the "V" section took up half the phone book because there were so many names in Pella that start with the Dutch prefix of "Van." The town's Dutch heritage is readily apparent in town by the gabled architecture of the downtown storefronts, the Dutch windmills, and (if you visit in the spring) the multitude of tulips! 

One of the best times to visit Pella is during the annual Tulip Time festival, which is typically held on the first weekend of May so as to coincide with peak tulip blooming season. But Tulip Time isn't just about viewing Pella's 300,000 tulips; it's also an exuberant celebration of the town's Dutch heritage with parades, shows, music, dancing, crafts, food, and more! 

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I visited Pella during Tulip Time 2014. Parking downtown is limited, but there are a few parking areas set up at the edges of town with convenient (and free!) shuttle services throughout the day. 

I got there bright and early so I would have plenty of time to do everything, and I decided to start my day with a tiptoe through the tulips! Or, rather, a walk on the sidewalks next to the tulips. Close enough. Like I said earlier, the town plants over 300,000 tulips. There are rows of them along most of the major streets in town, as well as larger flower beds in some of the city parks and gardens. I started in the small but pretty Sunken Gardens Park: 

The park had plenty of tulips in bloom, as well as its own adorable little windmill! Incidentally, that lake in the middle of the park? It's shaped like a wooden shoe (I'm standing at the shoe's toe in the above photo). 

Next I moved on to Central Park, which occupies the town's main square. The square's most prominent feature is the tall Tulip Toren ("tower") which is all decked out in the red, white, and blue of the Dutch flag and is surrounded by a set of 12 flagpoles displaying the flags on the Netherlands' 12 provinces. There's also another small windmill in the square - this one serves as the town's tourist information booth. And of course there were plenty more tulips to see - in just about every color you can think of! 

Dutch Demonstrations

After my lovely stroll through the town square, I made my way to a building on the west side of the square called the Memorial Building to attend a "Dutch Demos" presentation. This fun hour-long diversion featured three presenters who spoke about different aspects of Pella and its Dutch heritage. First up was the local chocolatier, who talked about how he makes his chocolates. He also demonstrated his chocolate-coating machine which uses a conveyor belt and a delectable-looking chocolate waterfall to cover various types of candies with a layer of Dutch chocolate. Luckily for us, the ticket to the demos comes with a complimentary sample of his chocolate in the shape of tiny wooden shoes, or I may have felt tempted to storm the stage to try some! Next up was a demonstration on traditional Dutch clothing, with the assistance of 5 audience members to model some of the different garments. Each region of the Netherlands has its own unique styles of dress, so someone in the know would be able to look at someone's clothes and be able to tell which province (and sometimes even which town) he or she was from. A woman's clothing may also convey whether she's Protestant or Catholic (Catholics from Zeeland press their hats into a square shape, while Protestants wear rounded hats) or whether she's single or married. The last presenter talked about the town's tulips, and how the town manages the hefty job of planting over a quarter-million bulbs every year. No small task! 

The Scholte House

Next up was a visit to the Scholte House for a little history on the town of Pella. This house was first built for the town's founder, Dominee Hendrik Scholte and his wife Mareah, who led a group of 800 Dutch immigrants to Pella in 1847. Mareah had a difficult time adjusting to life as a pioneer, but Hendrik promised to build her a home with all the comforts of her former life in the Netherlands, and the construction of this house was completed in 1848. 

The Scholte House

The house was inhabited by descendants of the Scholte family all the way up to 1987, and is today cared for as a museum by the Pella Historical Society. The most notable room is the library, which still has all of its original furnishings and decor. 

This chest featured a complex 8-bolt locking mechanism, and was used to carry the colonists' gold securely across the ocean so they could use it to buy land for their new town. The cheest also features a false keyhole on the front - the true keyhole was hidden under a rivet on the lid.

Dominee Scholte was a talented artist, and some of his sketches hang in the library.

Some of the surveying equipment originally used to plot the town of Pella.

The rest of the house has been faithfully restored to what it might have looked like in the Scholtes' time. There are also more displays scattered through the house containing items owned by various members of the Scholte family who occupied the house for over a century, including works of art by multiple generations of Scholtes. To add to the experience, there were also costumed docents in almost every room of the house to tell you about the home, the Scholes, and the town's history. One of the docents even mentioned that she was a descendant of the Scholtes themselves! 

One notable display contains a few items of Mareah Scholte's Delftware - a renowned manufacturer of hand-painted china (traditionally done in blue and white) from the town of Delft in South Holland. Mareah carefully packed her Delftware away before leaving the Netherlands, but when she unpacked the boxes a year later in her new home in America, she was sad to discover that a great many pieces had broken along the way. She saved what few intact pieces she could, and used the broken fragments as part of a walkway in her garden. 

Some of the surviving pieces of Mareah's prized Delftware

Art by Nora Scholte ca. 1940

One other interesting fact about Hendrik Scholte is that he was acquainted with President Abraham Lincoln. Scholte was active in local politics and was a fervent supporter of the anti-slavery movement. He even published a book against slavery, which was the only book on the topic published in Iowa before the Civil War. His activism brought him into the national political realm, where he met Lincoln, who referred to him as "my Dutch friend,"  and became involved in his presidential campaign. When Scholte attended Lincoln's inauguration, he coincidentally wore a shawl identical to the President's. Who wore it better?? Who's to say. But the famous shawl can still be seen in the Scholte house. 

Scholte's shawl, worn to Lincoln's inauguration.

A copy of Hendrik Scholte's anti-slavery book.

Behind the Scholte house is another lovely garden featuring - you guessed it - lots more tulips! And the gardens are free to visit, so even if you decide not to visit the house you can at least take a stroll through the gardens! 

Lunchtime Wanderings

I had some time to kill before the 1:00 stage show, so I wandered around town for a bit. In a park a couple blocks west of the main square was a "Dutch Market." It was basically a craft show, with lots of stuff to buy from area crafters. Plus some inflatable bouncy things for the kids! 

One block southeast of the main square is an area called the Molengracht, a distinctly new-looking shopping area with a recreated Dutch-style "canal." There's even a Dutch drawbridge. 

By this time, I was ready for lunch. I intended to return to the Memorial Building to take advantage of their buffet-style Dutch Meal, but the line to get in was already out the door (and then some), so I decided to skip it. I did see a few people with plates of food from the Dutch Meal, and it looked good - just be sure to come early if you want to try it! Instead, I went to the food vendors in the southwest corner of the square. There were all the traditional festival foods available, like hot dogs and funnel cakes, but I decided to go local and try some Pella bologna, which was spicy and delicious and served with some gouda cheese. Very Dutch! I also tried some "Dutch Ribbons" - potato chips made from a spiral-cut potato. Though I'm pretty sure I've seen these at other festivals, so I'm not sure how "Dutch" they actually are. But they were still good. 

The last thing I wanted to try was a "Dutch Letter," which must be some kind of town favorite, because I had been hearing about them all day. There are two bakeries on the main square, but unfortunately at lunchtime they both had lines extending halfway down the block. But luckily I came across a small cart in the Molengracht selling the letters along with other baked goods. And I'm glad I did because it was delightful! It's a tube-shaped pastry filled with a sweet almond paste. Definitely a must-try for anyone visiting Pella! 

Dutch Ribbons

Shops and bakeries on the main square. That dense crowd of people at the back of this photo? That's the line to get into one of the bakeries.

Sandwich of Pella bologna and a slice of gouda.

Confections in the bakery window.

Dutch letter

Grandstand Show and Parade

The day's main event, of course, is the parade. They actually have a total of 6 parades over the three days of the festival. One each day in the afternoon, and another illuminated parade after dark. As for parade seating, you have two options: buy a ticket (for $5 per seat) to sit in the grandstand, or bring a lawn chair and try to find free seating along the parade route. If you try to find your own seating... good luck! When I first arrived in Pella at 8:30, the perimeter of the main square was already lined with tarps and chairs of people who had already staked their claim for parade seating. The grandstand seating does have a few advantages: you're elevated on bleachers to get a great view, you'll get to hear the announcer explaining the floats as they're going by so you know what you're looking at, and you'll get to see the Grandstand Show, which begins an hour and a half before the parade. So if it's your first time to Pella, I'd definitely recommend grandstand seating to get the full experience! 

The first event in the grandstand show was a Dutch cheese market demonstration. Two guys came out representing the cheese seller and cheese buyer, and they demonstrated the traditional negotiation process of sampling the cheese, then clapping and handshaking when they agreed upon a price. Then teams of cheese porters came out and used special Dutch cheese-carrying tray-things (I'm sure there's a name for them, but I don't know it, so just see the photo below) to carry the cheese away. Then they had some shenanigans where the three teams of porters had a "race" to see which team was the fastest, but of course they all cheated and the cheese went rolling everywhere for comic effect. 

Next up was some traditional Dutch folk dancing, which was very cute. There were even some themed dances, including one that involved stomping with their wooden shoes. I think my favorite was the broom song, which they sang in a round, and whose lyrics, roughly translated, went something like: "What is a broom for? To sweep. What do we sweep? The floor." Songwriting brilliance.

Next up was the presentation of this year's Tulip Queen and her Royal Court. If I had come on the first day of the festival, I would have seen her actual coronation, but since I came on Saturday, they just processed up and were introduced to the crowd. 

After this came a little Dutch fashion show, where groups of people processed across the stage wearing the distinctive dress of each of the Netherlands' 12 provinces. 

And finally, the folk dancers came back to the streets for a final series of dances. Except this time, instead of there being 16 of them, there were hundreds. Clearly this is a popular extracurricular activity for Pella's schoolchildren! They even asked for audience participation for a couple of the simpler dances! 

Traditional Dutch folk dancers

Cheese porters

Dutch fashion show: attire from Gelderland (above), and North Holland (below).

folk dancers

The 2014 Tulip Queen and her Royal Court.

allllllll the dancers back on the street.

Just one last order of business before the parade could start: scrubbing the street. I wasn't aware of this before I came, but apparently the Dutch have a strong reputation for cleanliness. I even heard stories about how the Dutch immigrants sped through the immigration screenings at Ellis Island and other ports of entry because they kept their ships so immaculately clean that there was little worry of them carrying diseases. Anyway, they announced that it was time for the scrubbing, and here they came. Some people with buckets who filled them from roadside basins and poured the water on the street, then even more people with push-brooms to scrub the street clean. And they were all in traditional Dutch attire. And then they just kept coming. Seriously, there must have been at LEAST a thousand people in this scrubbing procession. Probably closer to two. I've certainly never seen anything like it! 

With that, we're finally ready for the parade! Here are some of the highlights: 

The Tulip Queen led things off in a lovely horse-and-carriage, as befitting her royal station.

There were a number of great marching bands in the parade - I think every school in the vicinity must have supplied one. But this one had the best outfits.

Children being pulled in oversized wooden shoes. Adorable.

Tulip Time has been going on since 1935, so I thought this was a nice way to honor the Tulip Queens of previous years!

So this float featured St. Nicholas, the Dutch version of Santa Claus. With his horse. On a boat. Yeah, I don't know either.

One of Pella's notable residents was Wyatt Earp, who spent part of his childhood here. The Earp family was kind enough to pause for a photo op in front of the grandstand.

This might have been my favorite thing in the parade. This kid was out like a light!

A float for the wooden shoe maker.

Ah, yes. Who can forget everyone's favorite children's characters Tony the Tractor, Scotty the Stump Cutter, and Suzy the Skid Steer?

The parade's closing float, sponsored by the historical society.

Historical Village & Vermeer Windmill

My last stop of the day was to Pella's most prominent landmark - the Vermeer windmill, which is located in the Historical Village. The historical village consists of about half a city block and 24 buildings to show you what life was like in the early days of Pella. Some of the buildings have been on the site for 150 years, while others were moved to the site from other locations. They had various homes ranging from a rustic log cabin from the very earliest times of Pella to a larger multi-family rowhouse (which happened to be the very same house that a young Wyatt Earp once lived in). They also had commercial buildings like a general store, a grist mill, a blacksmith, and a wooden shoe-maker's workshop. There were also plenty of costumed docents on hand to give craft demonstrations and information about the village. 

Water wheel at the grist mill

Wyatt Earp's house

View over the Historical Village and Vermeer Windmill

Inside the workshop of the wooden shoe maker

One of the buildings was also a nice little museum. There were traditional clothes, musical instruments, and many other artifacts, but my favorite part (in the spirit of the festival) was the display of old brochures and souvenirs from the prior 79 years of Tulip Time, as well as the wall of portraits of every Tulip Queen that Pella has had. The portraits are nice in showing the charming variety of attire - I'm assuming that each queen dresses in the particular fashion of her ancestral province in the Netherlands. 

And at last, I come to the Vermeer windmill. This is the tallest working windmill in the United States, and it really does tower over the surrounding buildings (it has to or else the buildings would block the wind). And they do operate it regularly to grind flour - which you can buy in the gift shop! To tour the windmill, an elevator takes you to the top of an adjacent building where you can walk around on a little catwalk encircling the windmill's upper tier before proceeding inside. Inside you can see the mill's grinding mechanism. Stairs descend the four stories from here to the ground, where you'll pass through a recreation of the miller's living quarters and some displays on the mill's construction. There's also a series of trap doors extending from top to bottom that allows workers to haul things up and down easily - and lets you appreciate the height! 

And that ends my visit to Pella for Tulip Time 2014, and I had a blast! Between the parade and events, the town's many cultural and historic sights, and ,of course, the tulips, it truly is a unique town with a charmingly Dutch feel. I know I'll be coming back some day for another magnificent Tulip Time! 

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Visitor info for the Historical Village, Scholte House, and Tulip Time can be found here: http://www.pellahistorical.org/