The mild, wet spring is leading to some early tulip blooms in Pella. The bright-colored flowers are beginning to pop out in a few of the town’s dozens of tulip beds a good three weeks before the annual Tulip Time Festival.
Jill Vandevoort , director of the Pella Convention and Visitors Bureau, says she’s not concerned the blooms will fade before the popular event.
Vandevoort says, “We do still feel that we’ll have tulips, especially if we can get some cooler weather back again in the next couple weeks.”
The south-central Iowa town has some 350,000 tulips in more than 180 beds. Vandevoort says the dates of the festival were moved up on the calendar several years ago, but they’ll be sticking with the current schedule.
Vandevoort says, “We do not foresee any changes in the date, so it will continue to be the first weekend of May at this point.” The festival is expected to draw 175,000 people over its three-day run May 4th through the 6th.
(Thanks to Rob Dillard, Iowa Public Radio)