After a 2 ½-year closure for a $1 million renovation, the Boyhood Home of Wyatt Earp has re-opened in Pella. Executive Director of Pella Historical Society and Museums Valerie Van Kooten says the newly interpreted space tells the story of the 14 years the Nicholas Earp family lived in Pella, and the three years (1861-1864) that they lived in this particular space. It then follows the legendary lawman as he travels West.
“To have the original house in the original location is a real boon,” says Van Kooten, Executive Director of Pella Historical Society and Museums, where the Earp House resides in the Historical Village. “So much of Wyatt’s later lift has been documented, but we are the only ones who can tell the story of how a Scots-Irish family lived in a small Dutch community in the 1850s and ‘60s.”
There will be no parades this spring at the 86th Tulip Time often considered a stable of the annual festival in early May.
Executive Director of Pella Historical Society and Museums Valerie Van Kooten says the final call was made after hours of difficult deliberation by the Tulip Time Steering Committee, and needed to be made this far in advance to allow planning for alternatives to be reasonable.
Van Kooten says one way organizers are still working to bring Dutch experiences throughout downtown Pella during the festival weekend May 6-8 is via impromptu “pop up” group performances: the 2021 Queen and Court; heritage groups like the Dutchesses, Dutch Family Singers, Strolling Strings and local school bands will be “roaming” and performing for smaller, more socially distant audiences.