With warmer days ahead and tulips planning to peek their heads out of the ground in March, the busiest time of the year in Pella is about to begin. A group of ambassadors chosen to represent the Tulip City this past November has been preparing ever since to showcase their hometown to the region and state of Iowa and promote the community’s signature celebration.

Tulip Queen Cheyne Plants and the Royal Court of Anna DeNooy, Avery Verhoef, Ellie Wogen, and Tatum Carlstone are going to make nearly 40 appearances from late March through May 4th to promote the 88th Tulip Time festival.

Since January, the group of high school seniors has been rehearsing for a program and also learning other important skills, according to DeNooy, which has included interview classes with former WHO-13 anchor Brooke Bouma, and will also feature lessons in etiquette.

“The whole court would like to extend our thank you to Brooke for taking the time to come and talk with us,” she says. “We learned a lot of things that we didn’t think about when it comes to interviewing and how answer questions we don’t know the answer to, and things like that.”

The Tulip Queen’s Royalty Party will be held on Tuesday, March 28th at 7 p.m. at the Pella Community Center, and is a chance for the public to see the first performance of their full presentation.

Hear more from the 2023 Tulip Queen and Royal Court on a Let’s Talk Pella two-part feature in early March.