Pella Tulip Time

There is SO much to tell ... this'll take a while. Linda and I took the afternoon off and went to Pella to see one of the 100 Places In Iowa You Must Visit and try one of the 100 Things In Iowa You Must Eat. The weather was cloudy, cool, and moist with isolated thunderstorms in the forecast; this could be a pretty poor day to check out the goings on.

One of the regular features of Tulip Time is the scrubbing of the street before the parade. Linda had read about it in the paper and I'd heard about it from two of my co-workers; must be something to see. We hustled toward the square and arrived as a wave of costumed mostly younger people were running from the other end; something was up! They took positions and demonstrated several fun Dutch dances.

After the dances, there was a recessional as the Tulip Queen and her court left the stage to prepare for the parade. The Mayor and City Council then inspected the street. Even with yesterday's rain, these streets were not going to do for the parade; they must be cleaned. (They looked okay to me...) Fortunately, the community was prepared and hundreds of men, women, and children set to making things right. Of course, some of the younger cleaners were more about playing in the water but the gutters soon ran with some pretty icky water. I guess the city council got it right! Time for the parade!

While we waited, Linda and I tried a couple of fried Pella bologna sandwiches. I added cheese and sauerkraut to mine. Mmmm... tasty!

The parade was classic. There were horsedrawn carriages with the Tulip Queen and her court, bands from surrounding communities (also from Missouri and Michigan), the best fire engine the community can muster, local dignitaries in classic cars, and some very nicely restored tractors.

One thing that was distinctive of the Pella Tulip Time Parade was that there appeared to be more participants than could possibly live in the community! It looked like every school for miles around must have mustered their enrollment, in costume, to participate in the parade. There were strollers with those too young to make the walk; a section set aside just for twins! Pella must have a growing population.

The floats were actual self propelled floats; not flatbed trucks or hay racks.

Each of the roles of the historic village had their places in the parade. The cheese market, the burgermeister, the milkman, and others were represented. The wooden shoe maker must be very busy; one of local bands marched in wooden shoes. It was a nice touch.

During the parade, we did take the opportunity to slip over the Jaarsma Bakery to beat the crowd to get the Dutch Letters on the list of 100 Things In Iowa You Must Eat.

Believe it or not, after the parade, there was actually more to experience! Most of the tulips were past their prime but, on the square, they'd taken care to have a nice display. There were many locals roaming around still in costume for the remainder of the afternoon. People were finding places to get photos at the festival. Judging from the number of cameras around (and my own collection of photos), this is a HIGHLY documented event!

We ran into my friend John and he set us on a course to get to several of the remaining treats. The poffergies with powdered sugar were a sweet treat on our way to the canal. We wound our way along the canal and to the Pella Klokkenspiel. With over twenty minutes to wait, we stopped into a little shop where Linda found strawberries on sticks and a chocolate fountain for coating them; simply irresistable!

It was an excellent afternoon and marked two more things off the lists of things in Iowa we must do.