This Iowa town made fake wooden tulips during the Depression – and launched a legend

Pella’s Depression-Era Dutch Festival Born from Wooden Tulips

Pella’s Tulip Time Festival was born from hard times and Dutch pride. In May 1935, as the Great Depression gripped Iowa, a high school show sparked something big.

Local leaders Lon Wormhoudt and Irwin Lubbers saw a chance to boost town spirit. With just two weeks to plan, they faced one problem: no tulips in bloom.

Cabinet-maker George Heeren fixed this by carving 125 wooden flowers for the town square. Soon, folks dusted off old Dutch clothes, sang songs from the old country, and shared stories.

The next year, they planted 85,000 real tulips and crowned their first Tulip Queen. Today, this small-town festival draws over 200,000 visitors to experience Dutch culture in America’s heartland.

A High School Show Started It All

Back in May 1935, Pella High School put on a show called "Tulip Time in Pella. " Locals loved it during those tough Depression years.

Families gathered to watch their kids perform Dutch songs and dances.

The show got people talking about their Dutch roots and sparked something bigger in this small Iowa town. People needed something positive while money was tight and spirits were low.

Two Local Leaders Saw an Opportunity

Store owner Lon Wormhoudt and Central College president Irwin Lubbers got excited after seeing how much people enjoyed the school show.

They pitched an idea to the Chamber of Commerce: turn the school performance into a town-wide Dutch festival.

The Chamber loved it and quickly formed six committees to handle different tasks like decorations, costumes, and getting the word out.

Wooden Tulips Saved the Day

The committees faced a big problem – they had just two weeks to get everything ready for May 16, 1935, and no real tulips were blooming. George Heeren, a local cabinet maker, came up with a clever fix.

He worked around the clock making 125 wooden tulips, each four feet tall. Workers placed these wooden flowers around the town square.

The bright red and yellow painted tulips looked almost real from a distance.

Depression Brought Folks Back to Their Roots

The 1930s hit Pella hard, just like everywhere else. Most residents were grandchildren of Dutch immigrants who came to Iowa in the 1840s and 1850s.

Hendrik Scholte, who started Pella, pushed his Dutch followers to become American quickly. Many second and third-generation Dutch-Americans grew up knowing little about their heritage.

Hard times made people want to connect with their past and each other.

The First Festival Was Simple But Special

The one-day event on May 16, 1935, began with a Town Crier walking the streets ringing a bell. A Dutch mayor officially opened the festivities wearing traditional robes.

Local girls danced around a Maypole in the town square. Folks sang Dutch songs from memory.

Store owners showed off Dutch antiques, plates, and old Bibles in their windows.

People wore whatever Dutch-looking clothes they could find – some passed down from grandparents, others homemade.

Fall Planting Created a Real Tulip Town

The first festival went so well that planners started working on next year right away. A new tulip committee formed that summer with a big goal: plant real tulips for the 1936 festival.

That fall, helpers planted 85,000 tulip bulbs around Pella and ordered another 150,000 bulbs straight from the Netherlands.

For two weeks, people spent their free time planting bulbs along streets, in parks, and around public buildings.

The Festival Grew Bigger and Better

The 1936 festival stretched to five full days, each with its own theme: History Day, Church Day, Neighbor Day, Central College Day, and Pella Day.

Before it began, locals scrubbed the streets clean in a traditional Dutch custom.

The program added new events like shows about Dutch life, historical plays showing the journey to America, concerts with Dutch music, and large choirs with hundreds of singers.

A Queen Joined the Royal Celebration

Leonora Gaass became Pella’s first Tulip Queen in 1936. Voters picked her from among several young women between 16 and 21 years old.

The contest rules said the queen needed to have a "good reputation and be thoroughly typical of the Holland influence. " Gaass was the great-granddaughter of Hendrik Scholte, who had founded Pella.

Four attendants joined her court. The queen wore an authentic costume with a lace cap and gold headpiece.

Pella Took Their Show on the Road

About 200 Pella residents piled into cars and buses in 1936 and headed to Des Moines. They wore wooden shoes and Dutch costumes to visit the Iowa State Capitol.

The group marched up to meet Governor Clyde Herring, giving him his own pair of wooden shoes. They asked him to come see the tulips and join their celebration.

Newspapers across Iowa ran photos of the colorful group. Thousands more visitors came to the second festival.

Committees Kept the Festival Running Smoothly

By 1937, twenty-seven different committees worked year-round on Tulip Time. The third festival added a flower show featuring prize tulips grown by local gardeners.

Workers created Tulip Town Park (now called Sunken Gardens) as a special spot to showcase the best blooms. The town now boasted 225,000 tulips with plans for another 100,000.

Festival organizers raised money by going door-to-door collecting donations from merchants who benefited from the tourist dollars.

A Depression-Era Festival Became a Lasting Tradition

What started as a simple celebration during hard times grew into something that defined Pella for generations. The festival created jobs when people needed them most.

Hotels filled up, restaurants served more meals, and shops sold souvenirs to visitors. The pattern set in those early years still shapes today’s festival.

The wooden shoes, street scrubbing, Dutch costumes, and tulip displays continue almost unchanged.

The small town of 10,000 now welcomes over 200,000 visitors each May, keeping Dutch heritage alive through good times and bad.

Visiting Pella, Iowa

You can explore Pella’s Dutch heritage at 507 Franklin Street during Tulip Time Festival, held the first Thursday-Saturday of May each year.

Festival admission is free, but museum tours cost $25 for adults and $18 for kids 5-17. Watch two daily parades at 2:45pm and 8:30pm on Main Street.

Over 300,000 tulips bloom throughout Central Park, Scholte Gardens, Sunken Gardens, and the Historical Village where you’ll learn how Dutch descendants created this celebration during the Great Depression.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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