April showers are indeed bringing May flowers when it comes to this year’s Tulip Time Festival in Pella. Allison Limke with the Pella Historical Society says the festival begins Thursday and runs through Saturday. “This year we have tulips already blooming and some that are still just buds. So, I think by this weekend we are going to have lots and lots of blooms. Especially with all this rain, the tulips have been needing lots of rain,” Limke says.
The weather can cause tulips to bloom too early or too slowly for the festival, but Limke says this appears to be a year that is right on track. “We’re excited to see the tulips bloom at the right time. And I think everyone is excited to get through this long winter and get on with spring and summer,” Limke says.
She says there are some 300,000 tulips planted around Pella and that doesn’t include those in the historical area. “In the historical village and Scholte House Gardens there’s over 100,000 bulbs planted,” Limke says. “And I would say that we have at least one-third that are already blooming.”
The Scholte House Museum is the home of Pella’s founder. The Tulip Time Festival hosts two parades daily, one at 2:30 in the afternoon and a lighted evening parade at 8:30. “We have traditional street washing, Dutch dancing going on by our community duchesses. We’ll have the queen and court going around and they’ll be performing. We’ll have Dutch signing and Dutch demos and just lots and lots of food and tulips,” Limke says.
This will be the 79th Pella Tulip Time Festival and the theme is “Dutch Fun For Everyone”. You can find out more at: www.pellatuliptime.com.