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| Our special clock is called a Klokkenspel. A
Klokkenspel has figures that are shown at certain hours. There are eight windows with
shades and as music plays the shade rolls up and the figures move forward. Our figures
celebrate our town's history and our Dutchheritage. First we saw Dominie Scholte. He was
the man that led Dutch people to our town in 1847. Dominie means "minister or
pastor". His figure was baptizing a baby.
The second figure we saw was of Mareah Scholte. She was Dominie Scholte's wife. When she arrived in Pella she found that all but one piece of her china dishes was broken. She cried for days. Her figure is holding one broken piece of Delft.
The third figure was of a blacksmith. He is working hard like many people did to make our town successful.
The fourth figure was of Wyatt Earp. He was a famous cowboy that lived in Pella for 14 years when he was just a boy.
The fifth figure is one of a wooden shoe maker. Each year in May we have a big celebration called Tulip Time. Some of us have wooden shoes that we wear with Dutch costumes just for Tulip Time.
The next figures were of a mother and daughter wearing Dutch costumes and holding tulips. At Tulip Time all of the school children wear special Dutch costumes and walk in the parades.
The seventh and eighth figures were of a man and woman in Dutch Costumes. The man is wearing a yoke with two buckets hanging from the yoke. The woman has a scrub brush. They are street scrubbers. Many children and adults scrub streets for the six parades during our celebration.
The Klokkenspel is located in the center of our town near
many of our stores. It was built in 1984. It is very tall and above the arch there are
five bronze bells which ring on the hour. Four times each day music plays and the figures
are shown. We walked from school to see the 1:00 p.m. performance. |
