Tulip Time will be held in Pella, Iowa, May 5 through 7, 2011.

The first Tulip Time in 1935 was planned in just two weeks following Pella High School’s performance of an operetta called “Tulip Time in Pella”. That first festival lacked tulips, so George Heeren, a local cabinet-maker, made 125 four-foot-tall wooden tulips, which were placed in flagpole holes around the square, and a tulip committee was formed to make sure thousands of real tulips were planted that fall.

Now, more than 80,000 tulip bulbs and annuals are planted each year at the Historical Village, Central Park, Sunken Gardens, Scholte Gardens and along city curbs.

The key to Tulip Time, then and now, whether Dutch or Dutch for a day, is that this is a local celebration, put on by hundreds of volunteers committed to showcasing their community and their heritage.

(Photo courtesy of Pella Tulip Time)