It has been a challenging year for most area non-profit organizations since COVID-19 changed the world last spring, including the sponsor of the annual Tulip Time celebration.

Executive Director of Pella Historical Society Valerie Van Kooten says the cancellation of the 2020 Tulip Time celebration and significant closures not only impacted their financial status, but made another key resource harder to come by — volunteers. Van Kooten says she’s appreciative of the financial support they have received, but with Tulip Time returning this May and several activities planned as COVID-19 restrictions lift, they are in need of a new generation of volunteers.

“We have had several people who have sent us checks and said ‘this is part of our stimulus check,’ and that’s very humbling and we appreciate that so much — and even when we were closed to the public and had no admissions coming in, we still had payroll and electric bills and all of that, so we appreciate that — but what we really need more than anything are volunteers,” Van Kooten says. “So many of our volunteers are in an age range that’s a vulnerable range, older people — even with [vaccinations], they don’t feel real comfortable coming in.

We need people to be tour guides in our mill, we need people at Tulip Time to be in the village talking about the festival. Volunteers are probably our greatest need now and threaten the future of Tulip Time if we don’t get more volunteers into the pipeline.”

Email info@pellahistorical.com or go to the Pella Historical Society website to learn more about being a volunteer.