Pella, Iowa—America’s Dutch Treasure!!

There are at least 15 towns in the United States that celebrate their Dutch heritage with various Dutch Days-type celebrations, spring tulip festivals or Dutch Christmas Sinterklaas arrivals.  Some towns like Holland, MI, Pella, IA and Lynden, WA have permanent year-round Dutch-theme buildings, theme parks or events.  According to the 2000 U.S. census, there are at least 5 million U.S. citizens of Dutch ancestry!   


One place to watch Dutch heritage come alive 365 days per year is Pella, Iowa!

The Dutch Royal Coat of Arms

Pella is a small town of about 10,000 people in central Iowa, southeast of Des Moines.  It was founded in 1847 by 800 Dutch immigrants who came to the prairies of Iowa fleeing famine and religious persecution in The Netherlands.  Pella means “City of Refuge.”  They bought 18,000 acres of fertile farmland for $1.25 per acre in Marion County between the Des Moines and Skunk Rivers.  10 years later, they had established 3 churches, a newspaper, schools for their children and prosperous farms.  In 1853, Central College was established in Pella for higher education.  They kept many of their Dutch customs and built using the traditional architectural styles of Dutch homes and especially in many downtown commercial structures with their Dutch-style step and bell gables. 

Pella is home to 2 major companies, Pella Corporation, manufacturing and selling nationally a full line of high end custom windows and doors for the past 85 years and Vermeer Corporation making and selling globally a broad line of agricultural equipment, pipeline and surface mining machines and tree care and landscaping equipment with over 3000 employees. Vermeer’s Pella Headquarter is called “The Mile” because the building is one mile long, containing 1.5 million square feet of manufacturing and parts facilities!  There are many other manufacturers in Pella on a smaller scale along with regional distributors and retailers.  Recreation is important too with nearby Lake Red Rock, Iowa’s largest lake and an Army Corps of Engineers facility open to camping, fishing, biking, kayaking and boating year round. The economy in Pella seems to be in good shape with very few storefront vacancies.

Driving into Pella today, once you’re past all the corn and soybean fields, you arrive at the town square, with Central Park with many flower plantings, dominating the scene. 

The central park had lots of flowers and whimsical sculptures made of recycles material

 

Even some US History here: A Civil War Monument

Many of the buildings on all sides of the park are picturesque Dutch-style buildings housing the hardware store, Ulrich’s Meat Market selling famous Pella Bologna, the two Dutch bakeries and much more. The south side of the park has a very tall structure, the headquarters of “Tulip Time” and on the corner stands a tall windmill, with giant wooden shoes in front, that is the town Visitor Center. 

In the next block to the east, you’ll quickly see an enormous windmill, the Vermeer Mill, that is 134’ high to the tip of its blades!  That mill is the tallest working windmill in the U.S. milling flour from wheat, all by wind power   A short distance away, you’ll find a canal with a full size Dutch-style drawbridge and now you know you’re back in Holland!   

The highlight event of the year in Pella is the 3 day Tulip Festival on the first weekend in May at the height of the tulip blooming season!  Tulip Time began in 1935 and regularly adds more exciting events and venues! 

There are an amazing array of events happening:   2 parades per day (daytime and night lighted parades), stage performances with Dutch dancing and singing, with appearances by the Burgemeester, Councilmen, presentation of the Royal Court ( the Queen and her attendants), the tulip gardens at Central Park and the Sunken Gardens, the Dutchesses--costumed Dutch Dancers doing Dutch folk dances, traditional Street Scrubbing in costume, a Quilt Show at the Pella Opera house, the Garden Club Flower Show, the Central College “Flying Pans” a steel drum performance, the Vermeer Windmill flour grinding demonstration, tours of the Pella Historical Village, Dutch food from street vendors or many downtown restaurants including a stand with our personal favorite, Poffertjes, small Dutch pancakes with butter and powdered sugar—delicious!! There’s a reenactment of a Dutch cheese market when wheels of cheese are auctioned and carried off on poles, the Dutch Market Place with 120 plus craft sellers, Dutch coffee time, antique markets, the Dutch Masters antique automobile show and De Kinderhoek, the kid’s corner!   We have to get over to Pella in May to see this Festival!!

(c) Photographs courtesy of Pella Historical Society

Pella also celebrates Kermis, a Dutch summer festival in mid-July with games, prizes, food and music on the City Square lawn.  The Fall Festival in late September celebrates harvest time in Iowa with artisans and craftsmen, food and a flower show.  Perhaps the best known and well loved Dutch festivity is the coming of Sinterklaas (Santa Claus) usually around December 5^th each year.  In Holland and some coastal areas, Sinterklaas, dressed as a 4th Century bishop (St. Nicholas) comes by boat with his servant, Zwarte Piet (Black Peter), a Moor.   In Pella, Sinterklaas leads a big parade, complete with dancing and song, usually the Saturday after Thanksgiving or this year, November 24, 2014. 

The street sweepers, Wyatt Earp, and girls with flowers at the Klokkenspiel

If you go to Pella, be sure to see the Klokkenspiel on the clock tower east of the square.  It has 8 mechanical figures—4 on each side—that perform at regular intervals during the day.  4 figures on the north side show Pella’s Dutch heritage—the baptism of an infant, a pioneer women holding a broken piece of Delftware, Wyatt Earp (who lived in Pella) and a blacksmith.  The south side shows 2 street scrubbers, a wooden shoe maker, and a Dutch woman and child with tulips.  

Water wheel in the Historical Village

We didn’t have time to visit the Pella Historical Village adjoining the Mill, but it is composed of 24 historical buildings, along with the Vermeer Mill, erected in 2002 from parts made in Holland.  You can also visit the Amsterdam School, which functioned from 1874-1960 in Pella.  Here is the song the children sang each morning as school began—

I go to School in Amsterdam

I love to go to school each day

I study as hard as I can

And other times I play!

Pella's women softball team -- Watch out!!

Pella is a very interesting town to visit with very friendly people.  We dry camped about 10 miles away at Lake Red Rock, which was very pleasant.   If you can time your visit to one of Pella’s festivals, we’re sure you’ll have a grand time!  Hint--Tulip time for 2015 is May 7, 8 and 9!!   And be sure the visit the Dutch bakeries---sweet treats to die for!!

Not just delicious baked goods, but also lots of souvenirs!

 

Windmills and more Windmills everywhere!