The Dutch in North America have little to distinguish themselves from "typical" Americans and Canadians (to read a little bit more about our "Dutch" background read our bios). However this has not stopped them from forgetting their heritage. This cultural protection doesn't involve passing on the language, or extensive education concerning the homeland, however. It mostly centers on tulips, wooden shoes, and delicacies such as stroopwafels. In a few "Pieces of Paradise" (places of heavy Dutch immigrant concentration) these forms of cultural protection have evolved into a yearly "festival-ritual" called Tulip Time.

One of these such places is Pella, Iowa, where Sarah went to high school. Pella has been having Tulip Times for more than fifty years now and the event has developed into a much awaited extravaganza with visitors from far and near crowding to town.

The business opportunities stemming from Pella Tulip Time have long been uncovered and to make the event and the town as "Dutch" as possible all stores in town must conform to building standards that fit in with the Dutch theme. Recently a one block area was turned into a Dutch street complete with a canal and a full sized windmill to make the transformation complete.

While Sarah is a Tulip Time veteran (she even was on the Tulip Time Queen's court when a senior!! Keep it a secret. She doesn't like this part of her history openly shared) it was the first time for Dan to see and behold.

Tulip Time runs for three days and on each day there are three parades. One in the afternoon and one in the evening. The parades consist of marching bands, floats describing the Dutch in American, and Tulip Time celebreties. Between parades tourists visit the various museums and gardens which have their best "Dutch" faces on. All throughout town tulips are planted and primed to be in their best condition over the Tulip Time weekend.

We arrived on Friday evening just in time for the evening parade. It was quite nice and we enjoyed picking out the flags of the province our ancestors had come from and snacking on the Dutch cheese that came with the Dutch cheese cart.

Saturday was a full day dedicated to the festivities. Most town residents help to put on the festival by dressing up in traditional Dutch costumes and walking in the parade. Since Sarah and her parent used to be "avid" participants they had all the garb and so Sarah and I dressed up for the day. Sarah wore the elegant costume that had been made for her when she had been on the Tulip Time Queen's Court. Dan wore a peasant's costume that made the two of us together look like the Princess and the Pauper. But it was all fun.

We joined other Pella residents and prepared the parade route for the parade by doing a traditional Dutch activity, scrubbing the streets. There were more than a hundred of us with buckets and brushes and we filed down the street pouring and scrubbing. Now we why Dan's mom is such a cleaner. I was suprised they didn't make us get down on our hands and knees.

After scrubbing and the parade we got ready for our last Dutch adventure. Making stroopwafels. For those of you who don't know what stroopwafels are they are basically very thin waffle cut in half and filled with syrup. Ever since I was a boy I craved and loved stroopwafels. A few years ago I came back from Holland with 10 packages in my suitcase and ate them all the first week. So you can imagine this was pretty exciting. We were working at the Grace Fellowship Church booth which every year makes thousands of stroopwafels as a fundraiser. While we didn't get to actually make the stroopwafels (you need to work up the ranks to make it to that position!!) we did get to eat as many as we wanted which more than made up for the disappointment.

With the last stroopwafel sold (an hour and a half before the last night parade ended; a testament to the popularity of these waffled wonders) it was time adieu to Tulip Time 2003. But we are sure to be there another time, someday, and definitely recommend checking it out once. You won't be disappointed.