The 2022 Pella Tulip Time Festival

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - The Pella Tulip Time Festival has wrapped up its 2022 celebrations. This was the first time the Dutch heritage festival has been held with no restrictions since 2019. The festival was canceled in 2020 and had restrictions last year. Nearly 350 thousand tulips are planted all over town.

One of the bakeries on the square spent days preparing for all of those customers. One bakery owner, Jeff Wichhart, says making Dutch Letters, a traditional pastry, is a three day process. He says they made about 20-thousand Dutch Letters.

”What goes in a Dutch Letter it’s like a three day process because you make the dough the first day and then the dough has to refrigerate overnight or sometimes two days it makes it better and then we roll in our letter filling, which is almond paste and cinnamon and sugar.” Wichhart explained.

The event also featured things like traditional singing and dances, an historic Dutch costume style show