Pella's Tulip Time: Iowa Time Machine May 16, 1935

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 16, 1935, Pella invited Iowans to tiptoe through their tulips as the first Tulip Festival began. An annual showcase of the southeastern Iowa town’s Dutch roots, Tulip Time continues to invite visitors to marvel at elaborate gardens, architecture, and events centered on the town’s heritage.

Following a production of a small operetta, ‘Tulip Time in Pella,’ during the spring of 1935, local leaders Irwin Lubbers and Lon Wormhoudt urged the Chamber of Commerce to host a celebration centered on Tulips. Although no bulbs sprouted in the six weeks leading up to the first festival, local woodworker George Heeran constructed 125 4-foot-tall wooden tulips to decorate the event. The first event featured Dutch costumes, antiques, speeches, songs, and other events. The following fall, local citizens got to work burying 85,000 tulips in preparation for a larger celebration the following spring. A five-day festival debuted in 1936, incorporating essential community elements, including numerous churches and Central College. Pella residents crowned Lonora Gaass, a great-granddaughter of founder Dominie Henry P. Scholte, the town’s first Tulip Queen. Even though the festival evolved into its current three-day format, many of the events and traditions from the first two years still endure today.

By 1937, twenty-seven local committees devoted time to the annual festival, and Tulip Town Park (modern Sunken Gardens) welcomed visitors wishing to see hundreds of thousands of tulips grown from bulbs imported from the Netherlands. In 1940, the first Tulip Toren, a wooden stage for community functions, was erected, featuring distinctive architecture and design. Although the original rapidly deteriorated, a more enduring structure rose in 1968 and continues to greet guests today.

The lighted evening “Volks” Parade began in the 1960s, and the Pella Historical Society continued to serve a vital role in preserving the town’s past by purchasing the Wyatt Earp House to expand the Historical Village. Other infrastructure and building projects continued to add to the Dutch character of the area, including the completion of the Molengracht and canal in 2000 and the massive Vermeer Windmill in 2002. The celebration continues to draw a crowd eager to sample Dutch delicacies prepared by various community organizations, to watch schoolchildren belt out “We are the Kids from Pella, Iowa, USA,” and to participate in other traditions. #Iowa #OTD #History #Tulips #Festivals