As luck would have it I was in Iowa just in time for the 75th annual Pella Tulip Time Festival. Pella goes all out for the festival. There are two parades each day, with the streets being swept clean by the town's wooden-shooed women and children before each parade. Some of the parade floats were very elaborate. There were antique tractors and cars on display, people dressed in styles representative of different Dutch regions and eras, lots of local and Dutch food to be eaten (including the delicious stroopwafel above), the old Vermeer Windmill was open for tours, and the Pella Window Co. was giving away free panes of glass to children under three years of age.
It would be interesting to experience Pella on a less hectic day. Despite all the activities, or maybe because of them, the whole thing struck me as a little creepy. I can't point to anything specific, just that there seemed to be a bit too much polish, regimentation, and conformity for the sake of conformity feel to he activities.
Anyway, I enjoyed the street cleaning, the parade, the stroopwafels (they were sold in pairs!) and giant pork sandwich, and old tractors.
The free panes of glass to kids under three is a joke, right? :)
Posted by: Dane | 01 September 2010 at 12:16 AM
No joke. You should have seen how messed up the town was by late afternoon.
Posted by: Joe | 01 September 2010 at 09:51 PM
Ok, a free pane of glass in my hands is a disaster (no joke here, either - I slashed up my leg real good the other night with just that); in the hands of toddlers?? Who thought that was a good idea? Were they trying to kill these children?
Posted by: Dane | 03 September 2010 at 07:51 PM