The Pella Tulip Time Committee voted on the Tuesday of the festival week to redirect three of the four scheduled afternoon bus tours to my farm for an honest Iowa cut flower demonstration. I had not requested the redirect. The committee chair, a retired Pella public school principal named Maret Beamster, had personally driven to my farm on Tuesday morning to ask. I had said yes on the condition that we donate all proceeds from the redirected tours to the Iowa Watershed Trust and the Pella Public Library children's program. She had agreed.
The tours ran Saturday through Sunday. We hosted across the two days visitors. The peony field was at peak bloom. Dot ran the visitor center out of the workshop with three of her old library colleagues. Freddy gave a 40-minute presentation on water rights law at 3:00 p.m. each day to standing room crowds in the equipment barn.
Ana sold lemonade for 50 cents a cup. She made $46 in 2 days. She has been saving for a pony she will not be allowed to keep until she is 7. The Iowa Watershed Trust received a check from the Brinkmeyer Farm for $11,460 on the Wednesday after tulip time. The Pella Public Library children's program received an equal amount.
Dot delivered the library check in person to her former colleague Helen Vosan. Dr. Ingga Vosan's mother, another Pella coincidence of surnames at the library's weekly story hour. Helen cried. Dot cried. The children in the story hour applauded because four-year-olds applaud whatever the adults are doing.
A particular small kindness happened the Saturday of the tulip time bus tours that I want to describe. A retired widow from Cedar Rapids, a woman of about 75 who had ridden the bus alone on the 11:00 tour, stopped me at the cut flower demonstration table. She had not bought anything. She had not asked any questions. She had simply waited until the demonstration was over and the bus was loading.
She had walked up to me. She had taken both my hands. She had said, "Mr. Brinkmeyer, my husband died last March. He had been growing tulips for 61 years. He never won a single ribbon.
He never wanted one. He just wanted the tulips. Thank you for reminding me what an honest grower looks like. " She had walked away before I could answer. She had gotten back on the bus. I have not seen her since.