Pella, IA info please

[Movingrightalong...]

Originally Posted by ksl

I am considering relocating for an opportunity in Pella. Yes I am living in California, but I was not born here and am looking forward to being *from* here.
I was curious if Pella is a good place to start a family, and how it compares to Des Moines or Cedar Rapids for quality of life?

Thanks for any help in this decision.

Pella's a town of roughly 10,000 people, mostly dutch descentants. It's a clean, "quaint", fairly conservative town. It's a very culturally christian place with a large number of churches. I'd say that it's a good place to start a family and has a good school system (one public, one private).

I'd point out, however, that it's a fairly insular place and even if you move there you'll never be a "true Pellikan"...which means that even though Pella Corp, Vermeer, and Central College may be big businesses, there is very much an inner circle of locals there which you may not easily penetrate. The town also seems to be very concerned with appearances. In one sense this is good as it helps maintain the town in good repair. On the down side, it leads to a bit of superficiality.

[Kickin]

Originally Posted by chrisfromiowa

are there many latinos in the high school? my friend might be moving theres(hes mexicano) and was wondering if there was other latinos there...i told him its mainly, white, dutch people...but maybe im wrong...let me know either way

No, not many latinos here. You're right, mostly white dutch kids. There are some latino families here, and a decent number of asian families. New kids will fit in here no matter what they are, it's a pretty friendly, welcoming town.

[CertifiaBully]

Originally Posted by Southside Shrek

I visited Pella once and enjoyed my brief stay there. The girl we went to see stayed in a sorority house and turned my buddy and me away after we showed up a little inebriated. We were run out of Pella.

Not completely sure, but isn't Pella a 'Dry Town'? No alcohol, bars, etc? Just wondering..thought I had heard that before I left that state and it's dullness! LOL

[CertifiaBully]

Originally Posted by Movingrightalong...

Pella's a town of roughly 10,000 people, mostly dutch descentants. It's a clean, "quaint", fairly conservative town. It's a very culturally christian place with a large number of churches. I'd say that it's a good place to start a family and has a good school system (one public, one private).

I'd point out, however, that it's a fairly insular place and even if you move there you'll never be a "true Pellikan"...which means that even though Pella Corp, Vermeer, and Central College may be big businesses, there is very much an inner circle of locals there which you may not easily penetrate. The town also seems to be very concerned with appearances. In one sense this is good as it helps maintain the town in good repair. On the down side, it leads to a bit of superficiality.

The TOWN seems to be very concerned with appearances??? The whole STATE is that way!! Totally consumed with what someone else thinks of them...sure am glad Texans were able to 'fix' that character flaw I brought with me.

[nascar9girl]

I agree with much of what movingrightalong wrote. I'm from Oskaloosa, about 10 minutes from Pella and my parents live in between the two towns now. Perspectives from someone who has lived there and knows, I guess.

Pella, visually, is a beautiful town. Yes, there is some superficiality but as mentioned above, that also lends itself to being one of the cleanest towns I've ever seen. The town is VERY steeped in it's Dutch heritage, and so you will find that most of the locally owned shops and businesses have names that start with Van, Ver, Vark, etc. Residents of Pella are proud of their town and work hard to keep it as a premier place to live. Because of this, stores are required to be Dutch-fronted.... meaning, keeping within the asthetic principles of the town. Great example- Wal Mart wanted to take their little store and build a super center. Okay, the council resisted for years but finally consented and the store opened right before Easter. Most Walmarts have those giant, lit-up signs you can see for a mile, but not in Pella. The store is all fronted in dark green and the sign is a "blink and you miss it" kind.

Tulip Time is a big deal to visitors to Pella, but I've found over the years that the locals know when to go and when to avoid it. Incidentally, Tulip Time was this weekend but the weather (rainy) has somewhat spoiled it. That and the tulips being mostly dead from the earlier warm weather. Tulip Time IS a great festival of Dutch heritage, though, and you simply cannot beat the little booths lining the main streets with tasty foods like dutch letters (a pastry), fried bologna on a stick, and walking tacos - mostly supplied by local churches or high school sports teams.

Speaking of schools, if you have children... Pella has both a public school and a private Christian school. Pella, for the most part (although certainly not ALL residents) is a highly religious community. I speak from experience, given that my stepdad is a church deacon and I grew up in a family that attended services only on Christmas and Easter. Pella Christian is a big deal and everyone I know with kids sends them there, but Pella Public is certainly a good school as well. My views are sorted of skewed, however, given that I attended Oskaloosa HS and we are definite rivals

As for major businesses, Vermeer Mfg, Pella Corp (Rolscreen), and the hospital are the main employers. From a local's perspective, Vermeer was a great company in the past but current management has flushed it down the drain. Pella Corp is the place to work, currently.

Exciting is the new EarthPark that is in the works. Do a google search on EarthPark Iowa and research it - based on EarthPark in England, Pella won out over many other Iowa towns and cities to house this HUGE venture. Probably a big part of this win was due to the fact that Red Rock (the lake) is such a summer hotspot for outdoor enthusiasts. The fishing, boating, camping, etc. is great and the dam built by the Army Corp of Engineers is pretty cool, too. Des Moines is about a 40 minute drive and there's always something to do, there, too.

Hope this helps- if you need any other info, I'd be happy to try to help!

[jwisconsin]

Pella sounds great, but do they welcome outsiders? I heard it was very clique. I have two kids 16 & 11 will they be accepted?

[lostinabook4]

Originally Posted by jwisconsin

Pella sounds great, but do they welcome outsiders? I heard it was very clique. I have two kids 16 & 11 will they be accepted?

Well, dh grew up there as a transplant (moved there when he was 9 or 10) & has never felt like he's part of the town. The saying is, "if you ain't Dutch, you ain't much" &, while there are exceptions, as far as I can tell it's fairly true.

The city also has pretty high expectations re: property maintenance, kind of like living in a city-wide convenanted neighborhood. Shudder.

Iow, it's a *very* nice place to visit, but I don't know that I'd want to live there.

[WoodwardGirl]

Originally Posted by jwisconsin

Pella sounds great, but do they welcome outsiders? I heard it was very clique. I have two kids 16 & 11 will they be accepted?

I don't think that cliquiness in children is a Pella problem or an Iowa problem. I think it is a children problem and I'm sure their parents don't help, either. The smaller the town, the more of an issue there tends to be because everyone has gone to school together since the beginning of time, and their parents mostly went to school together, too! In my experience, boys are accepted more easily than girls. That doesn't mean that your kids won't make friends and enjoy school just as much as the next kid, because everybody is going to have some angst at that age, it's just a question of what the angst is. The more your family differs from the norm in terms of race, religion, and lifestyle (i.e. veganism, vacations with Grandma in the family castle in the alps, vocal supporters of the Flat Earth Society, etc.), the more difficulty there will be. While there are undoubtedly neighborhoods in which those things are accepted by the majority of the populace, they are all probably less accepted in Iowa and many other largely rural environments in the midwest (I throw on that last qualifier because there may be rural areas in the south where the Flat Earth Society is all the rage :-)

The other big difference about small towns here vs. small towns in states with higher population density is that our small towns tend to be more isolated. You may live in a small town in New Jersey but come into contact with other people that go to other area schools through, say, the health/athletic club, Boy or Girl Scouts, craft classes, whatever. And, with so many more people in the area, there is a higher chance you'll come into contact with people of 'minority' status, whether that be religion, race or socio-economic status. Since our small towns are further apart, there is less chance of that here. I mean, even the 4-H club I was in -- a rural, township-based organization -- had only people that went to the same school district I did.

This is all not because Iowans are any more cliquish or socially restrictive than other people, it's just that we have less population density and we are human. I think it's just a risk you take when you move with kids.

[HanTheRoo]

Originally Posted by jwisconsin

Pella sounds great, but do they welcome outsiders? I heard it was very clique. I have two kids 16 & 11 will they be accepted?

It really depends how much of a welcome you are looking for.

My ancestors were part of the original group of Dutch settlers to move here. At some point, my family said "Okay, this is crazy, we can't be like these people" and we moved away to surrounding communities. Well, my family's back... and we consider ourselves to be insiders with outsiders' perspective. BUT-- it's really not where you came from, it's what you're going to put into the town. The people in Pella are very, very competitive, and you have to work your tail off to get in with them. A lot of the big names in Pella are NOT "originals". Our mayor is named Dobernecker-- but he's accepted because he puts himself into Pella. He was a school band director, he is dedicated to the community.

I think the teenagers in town try to laugh at this, and they do a good job until they grow up and become like their parents. But your kids will be accepted well with public school kids and homeschool kids (I cannot speak for the Christian school kids) and they will perhaps be more popular because they're different. New kids are the popular ones, they bring in new energy.

Hope this helps.