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Tulips couldn't wait to bloom for Tulip Time Festival
Posted: 04.04.2012 at 6:09 PM
Tess Hedrick

Tess Hedrick is a Multimedia Journalist for KTVO.

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Tulips have bloomed a few weeks early

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PELLA, IOWA -- This year will mark the 77th Annual Tulip Time Festival celebrating all things Dutch.

People from all over the world come to gawk at the 200-300,000 tulips that bloom each year. However, the tulips came about four weeks early this year because of the warmer weather.

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“On a normal year when they bloom at tulip time, there will be a lot of people like the week before and the week after coming when there's not the big crowds. We're still having that group. It's just in early April now instead of around tulip time. I don't think were going to miss a whole lot of traffic. There will be some that choose not to come at tulip time because the tulips won't be here," says Randy Sikkema, one of the Tulip Time Festival organizers.

Presently, most of the tulips are in full bloom so it’s an ideal time to come and see them. Upon entering the town, you can smell the pleasant aroma from the thousands of tulips.

With Tulip Time being a big tourist attraction, some wonder if this will affect local businesses in Pella.

“I don’t think it will be affected, but maybe that’s just me.  Tulip Time is itself is very different in the fact that there's activities, there's food, there's parades, there's activities going on. So I don’t’ think it’s going to be affected too much by the lack of tulips because there's still a lot of fun things for people to do,” says Ann Summitt, a sales associate at The Hall Tree.

Sikkema seems to think that Tulip Time may even be good for local businesses.

“If everybody comes all at once, then everybody can’t eat all at one time, everybody can't shop all at once, and you're kind of piled on top of one another. This way it has spread out the crowd a little bit,” said Sikkema.

The Tulip Time Festival is May 3-5. For more information, click here.

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