Dutch food stands, no big floats in the parade and only a few tulips. But the one thing that’ s always been there is the pride in Pella’ s Dutch heritage.
“ Obviously, Tulip Time is an incredibly important event for the community in Pella, both from a financial [ standpoint ] and what it does for us economically is pretty massive, but I think it’ s just a great community-building event also,” said Pella Mayor Don DeWaard.“ I’ ve got a lot of favorites, but one of my favorite things is on Thursdays and Fridays, when the school kids all march through the parades. We have a diverse ethnic background of kids and … for two days, everybody’ s Dutch.”
Jessi Galligan, executive director for Pella Historical Museums, says the magnitude of the event has not been lost on her or her staff.
“ I was in the Tulip Court when we celebrated 80 years and now we’ re celebrating 90 years, and I’ m in this position where I get to help lead the charge to plan Tulip Time, which is really special,” she said. This comes just three years after the City of Pella celebrated the 175th anniversary of the city’ s founding. In recognition, the theme of the celebrations is“ Our Heritage in Bloom.” And they have a few special events and attractions to mark the occasion.
“ We have a new portable mural that will go up in the Molengracht, we have some different tulip bulb sales going on, we have our Tulip Time art competition— we had 37 submissions last summer and we’ re going to display all of those for the first time this year,” Galligan said.“ So it’ s not just a number this year; it’ s also an opportunity to really celebrate this legacy.”
And that legacy, Bandstra said, is what drives the people of Pella to take the time out of their day for months on end to make Tulip Time the smash hit it’ s become known for over the span of nine decades.
“[ Pella’ s ] so proud to be Dutch and we don’ t shy away from that at all,” Bandstra said.“ You can’ t host something this incredible or that great without having a lot of heart into it and love. And it’ s run by volunteers. It’ s run by so many people who are doing this solely because they love Pella, and that’ s what makes it such a great event.”
8 PELLA’ S TULIP TIME 2025