Story Starters

Tulip Time Festival, Pella

A celebration of the town’s Dutch heritage with street scrubbing, Dutch dancers, tulip gardens, historical village with working crafters, Scholte House tours, crafts, quilts and, of course, Dutch letters. 2010 marks the 75th anniversary of Tulip Time. Plans call for an attempt to establish a world record for the most Dutch dancers in wooden shoes dancing in one place at one time. May 6-8.

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Orange City Tulip Festival, Orange City

Festivities include music and dancing by hundreds of children and adults in intricate authentic costumes, two daily parades featuring top area marching bands, nightly musical theatre, a carnival midway, fun ethnic food treats, plus thousands of tulips and a dozen reproduction windmills throughout a charming village. May 13-15.

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Glenn Miller Birthplace Museum, Clarinda

A new museum honoring the legacy of Alton Glenn Miller is scheduled to open in June 2010. The facility will feature a theatre, research area and 3000-square-foot display area that will tell the remarkable story of Glenn Miller, one of Iowa’s and America’s favorite musical patriots. The museum will also tell how Miller, after achieving his dream, chose to give up his number-one Big Band to enlist in the United States Army Air Corps and train military bands. As a result, his music became the music of World War II of which General James H. Doolittle said, “Next to a letter from home, Captain Miller, your organization is the greatest morale builder in the ETO (European Theater of Operations).”

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Honey Creek Resort’s Golf Course Receives National Acclaim

The Preserve, Honey Creek Resort’s 18-hole golf course, has received attention from several golf publications:

• “Best Course of 2009” honorable mention from Golf Magazine
  
• “Top 10 Best New Public Courses” (opened between May 1, 2008, and April 30, 2009) by Golf Digest
  
• “Development of the Year for U.S. Courses” runner-up by Golf Inc.
  
• “Best New Public Courses of 2009” by LINKS Magazine
  
  

Nestled within 240 acres of rolling prairie just south of the resort’s entrance, the course features bentgrass greens, tees and fairways as well as fescue secondary rough, 24 acres of restored native short-grass prairie, beautiful grass-faced bunkers and panoramic views of Rathbun Lake.

Iowa Baseball Museum, Norway

Spurred by interest in the “Final Season” movie (filmed in Iowa and based on the Norway High School baseball team), this new museum tells the story of how baseball started in the small rural town of Norway, became a winning tradition and culminated in 20 State Championships plus many college, semi-pro and major/minor league players.

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Big Bud, Independence

The world’s largest tractor, Big Bud, will be on display at the Heartland Acres Agribition Center in Independence from April 12 – July 31. Built in 1977 at a cost of $300,000, Big Bud was originally used to deep plow cotton fields. Big Bud weighs 130,000 lbs and measures 20 feet wide by 14 feet tall. This is the first time Big Bud has ever been in Iowa and will be its longest stay at a site.

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