After the festival’s cancellation in 2020, Pella Historical Society and Museums and their Tulip Time Steering Committee are planning for the return of the festival next spring.

Chad Vande Lune is President of the Pella Historical Society Board and says Tulip Time event organizers are coordinating with local government leaders, health professionals, and representatives of area tourism and businesses to begin planning for what the 86th Tulip Time could look like next May.

“We want to proactively identify the things we might need to do to the schedule for Tulip Time in 2021 or in just the infrastructure, to make sure we can put on a safe, healthy, exciting event.”

Vande Lune says they are focused on social distancing measures, spreading out potential visitors throughout the week to avoid large crowds, and offering more video and live streaming options to also cut down on mass gatherings. With five months until the festival, he believes there are still many unknowns as it relates to what the next Tulip Time festival will look like. Regardless, Vande Lune says the biggest need is recruitment of additional volunteers, especially those who are younger and at lower risk from COVID-19 complications.

“We need a lot of volunteers, and we’re going to need volunteers in a demographic that we haven’t generally had in large quanities in the past,” he says. “When you look at the COVID situation and those who have at-risk situations, those who would be 70, 75 years old–those are a lot of the individuals who do a ton of the heavy lift when it comes to Tulip Time and volunteering.”

Hear more about the latest with Pella Historical Society on today’s Let’s Talk Pella.