The annual Pella Tulip Festival begins next Thursday (May 2) and organizers believe the headliner guest will actually be there this time.
Susan Canfield of the festival’s steering committee say the unseasonably warm weather last year really messed up the timing of the tulips. “They were out in early April and our businesses in our town had a lot of people in town during April because of all the tulips, they were beautiful. But unfortunately, by the time tulip time came around, they were pretty much gone,” Canfield explains.
Canfield says the timing appears to be better this year. “We are very optimistic that based on the weather forecast that the tulips will be popping right around tulip time,” Canfield says.
The event celebrates the Dutch heritage of the community in central Iowa, and Canfield says the tulips are just part of the event that draws thousands. She says over the course of the three days there are between 125,000 and 150,000 people who attend the events. “We’re hoping this year because people have been inside so much — because the weather has not been wonderful — that we’ll get a lot of people want to come out and get outside and see the beautiful tulips and come out and vist Pella,” Canfield says.
You can find out more about the events at www.Pellatuliptime.com