Today we spent the day in Pella, Iowa for tulip festival! Tulips are a huge part of the Netherlands and to the Dutch people’s culture and even symbolizes wealth after they gained their independence from Spain. I had so much fun exploring all the tulips today and trying to find which ones were my favorite. I ended up finding these beautiful pink and yellow tulips that looked so wonderful even in the light rain we were experiencing. Being outside in the rain was so cool because the Netherlands climate is almost similar to it, with them experiencing light rain throughout the year.
While we were in one of the bakeries I was able to see some type of spin off of the original pieces made from delftware. Delftware is tin glazed earthenware that was originally made in the Netherlands since the 16th century! I found these pieces to be very interesting because my mom’s friend is from the Netherlands and has a lot of delftware pieces which are scattered around her house. It was so interesting to see them all around the town and to know that this is something she is proud of because it is part of her culture. Being able to see this in Pella was a nice reminder that there are many different cultures that we can appreciate without having to go all the way across the world!
Another big part of the day that I really enjoyed was the crowning of the tulip queen. It is a big tradition for Pella to have a tulip court and then crown a tulip queen from them! This has been around for many years and even some of the past queens made an appearance in the parade floats! I was lucky enough to get a chance to see this years queen on the street and she was kind enough to take a picture with me!!!
Today I had so much fun!!! I am so grateful that I was able to come back to Pella with the band in the summer because I went to Pella in February with Castle Singers but it was snowy and everything was closed because it was on a Sunday. Overall I am so happy that we as a band had this amazing opportunity to visit Pella during tulip time and were able to experience this beautiful festival!
-Gavin Foust-Wollenberg
Tenor Saxophone