Pella is unique all year long, their website says, but the town comes to life during Tulip Time with tulips, Dutch attire, food and plenty of activities for the whole family. Pella’s 89th annual Tulip Time Festival is almost here, with this year’s event held on May 2, 3 and 4.
With the warm spring, Iowans may be wondering if the tulips will still be in bloom.
What’s on the Tulip Time 2024 schedule? Do I need tickets?
The Tulip Time Festival 2024 schedule includes grandstand shows, parades, historical tours, a Dutch craft market, dozens of food booths and all-day entertainment and activities.
A full schedule of events can be found at pellahistorical.org/tuliptime. Entrance to the festival is free, though some events require tickets.
“If you do want to purchase tickets ahead of time for some of the events that do require tickets, for example, open air sea tours, tours of the museums like the Vermeer windmill, the historical village and the school tea house … You can do that ahead of time on our website,” Jessi Galligan, executive director of Pella Historical Museums said. “However, they’re available in person as well and it’s unlikely that things like that sell out.”
Tulips are blooming early. Will there be enough for Tulip Time 2024?
Galligan said having enough tulips still in bloom always is a concern for Pella and planners of Tulip Time.
“Of course we plant our tulips back in October and November, then Mother Nature has the final word on when they’re going to be at their peak,” Galligan said. “We do plant early, mid- and late-blooming varieties of tulips to ensure the longest bloom season.”
Tulips started blooming in Pella as early as late February, Galligan said. But some cold spring weeks slowed down their growth.
Galligan says tulips in Pella are still in the very early stages of blooming, and she’s been assured by her head gardener that tulips will still be around in late April and early May.
Will Tulip Time 2024 have new events?
In anticipation of a few less tulips this year, the Tulip Time team launched a paint a tulip project. Local woodworkers created hundreds of life-size wooden tulips that the Pella community can paint and return to the museum to be placed around the town.
“We’re slowly starting to see them return to us painted in all sorts of different colors and designs — from your realistic looking colors to rainbow colored, or I saw one that had the number 22 for Caitlin Clark,” Galligan said.
Tulip Time 2024 will feature plenty of more new events, opportunities and art, including a new mural outside of the Vermeer Windmill.
Pella also is partnering with Barnswallow Flowers this year to teach event-goers the history of tulips and how to cultivate and grow them. There will be bulbs for sale, with proceeds being donated back to the Pella Historical Museum.
Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez is a general assignment reporter for the Register. Reach her at vreynarodriguez@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter @VictoriaReynaR.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Tulip Time 2024: What to know, where to find tickets