Tulips, Clogs, and Community Spirit

There’s something special about small towns in the Midwest. No matter where you go, it seems every town has that one annual celebration that brings the whole community together. Maybe it celebrates the town’s history, culture, or simply what makes that place unique. Here in North Iowa, we have Band Festival. Last weekend, we traveled to Pella for their famous Tulip Time celebration, and once again, I walked away incredibly impressed – not just by the event itself, but by the people behind it.

If you’ve never experienced Tulip Time, it’s hard to fully explain the scale of it. Over 200,000 visitors come through town during a three-day span. And somehow, the entire community shows up to make it happen.

What stood out to me most was the unbelievable amount of community involvement. Nearly every food stand was run by a church, school group, or organization. One booth might be staffed by the Central College Football Team, another by a choir group, another by a local church… Every group relies on volunteers to keep things running. When we attended church the following Sunday, we learned the Catholic church we visited made over $52,000 during the festival weekend alone. That’s incredible – not just financially, but as an example of what can happen when an entire community works together.

And then there are the parades. Six of them. Yes, SIX.

Three daytime parades and three nighttime lighted parades over the course of the festival. These are not your average small-town trailer floats. Some are fully animated with moving parts, lights, and even steam effects. The first time I saw them, I was absolutely gobsmacked by the creativity and craftsmanship. The Pella High School Band marched the route six different times wearing traditional wooden clogs. The fact they marched in 6 parades in wooden shoes deserves its own trophy.

But the volunteers weren’t just in the food booths or parades. They were everywhere. People staffed the Dutch village, worked information booths, organized events, and performed traditional Dutch dances throughout the day. At one point, there were over 100 dancers filling the streets before inviting the crowd to join in.

One of my favorite traditions happens before each parade. Hundreds of people, from babies to people in their 90s, line the streets pouring buckets of water and sweeping the roads clean. I was so fascinated by it the first time I saw it that I looked up the meaning behind it. It comes from an old Dutch tradition where clean streets symbolized a warm welcome for honored guests. What a beautiful way to honor visitors and celebrate heritage.

The more I watched throughout the weekend, the more I kept thinking about our own North Iowa Band Festival.

While our festival may be smaller in scale, the heart behind it is exactly the same. Events like these do not magically happen. They require countless hours of planning, organizing, fundraising, and volunteering long before the first note is ever played. I’ve understood that since I was young because my mom helped organize Band Festival when she worked at the Chamber of Commerce. Even after leaving that organization she volunteered for the event.

For our towns to thrive, we need people willing to step up. We need volunteers. We need people who are willing to give their time, energy, and talents to create something bigger than themselves. We need people who are proud of where they live and want others to experience that same pride when they visit.

Because at the end of the day, festivals like these are about so much more than parades, food, or entertainment. They are about community. They are about tradition. They are about creating memories for families and giving people a reason to come together.

Watching the streets of Pella filled with volunteers of every age reminded me that strong communities don’t just happen by accident. They happen when people show up.

And thankfully, in small towns like ours, they still do.