Pella, IA (KPEA) - Tulips and Treats from the Jaarsma Bakery

Martin Pauly

Line Up and Wait
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Joined
Dec 27, 2011
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885
Location
Cedar Rapids, IA
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Martin Pauly
My very last flight in N70TB with the old engine took me to Pella, IA (KPEA) - a nice small Dutch community, and home to Classic Aviation. The FBO is family owned - line services, fuel, aircraft rental, instruction, maintenance - like was common in the old days, not so much anymore. Shane Vande Voort (a Dutch last name, of course!), who owns the FBO and runs it with his family, is also a DPE. They live and breathe aviation out there.

Downtown Pella is always worth a visit, but especially this time of year. Their "Tulip Time" festival is pretty well-known, and while the parade and other big events were a victim of COVID-19 this spring, the tulips looked beautiful when I was there.

Jaarsma, the old Dutch bakery, is always worth a visit, year-round. Expect a wait to get in, but it's so worth it. The biggest problem is I always buy too many of their tasty pastries when I am there. When a flight from my home base (Cedar Rapids KCID) leaves for Pella, it's not unusual for the Tower to inquire if a stop at the bakery is planned before returning home. Hint: Controllers like treats just like the rest of us.

I am grateful for the many hours of reliable service I have gotten from my old engine, the one that was in the Bonanza when I bought it in 2012. I am also grateful for destinations like Pella, which make for an easy and fun day trip (or half-day trip) and offer some reward for flying even in these strange COVID-19 days. And I am grateful for families like the Vande Voorts who keep aviation going in many small places that the large corporate FBO world would probably not be too interested in supporting.

Next, I want to see how big of a smile will be on my face when I take off in my Bonanza for the first time with a new IO-550B and a new Scimitar prop. :)

As you know, I like to make videos of many of my flights. This last fight I can offer in two versions: a "normal" one (similar to many of my existing videos), and a super-high-resolution (8K) of the full-length flight in real-time, with all camera angles shown simultaneously, if you have a large-enough device to play it.

- Martin

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I'd like to buy a letter G and a letter M, please. Yep, been to Pella and done that. :) Good to see you here, Martin.
 
One of my favorite towns!

And the only O'Reilly Auto parts store in the country that was required to have Dutch architecture. I was like wtf? at the planning and zoning meeting...It's not van Reilly!!
 
Never been there, but it's on my list... One of our son's classmates at nearby Westmont College left his belongings with us while on summer break one year. His grandfather owns the bakery - and the classmate's way of
saying thanks was to bring us one of their pies. Yummy!

Dave
 
Back when I was working ground crew for crop dusters many moons ago, we spent several days working out of Pella. That was by far the most comfortable FBO I set foot in during all my summers of fueling and loading planes. Unfortunately, it was so nice and clean that we decided to move elsewhere out of courtesy of stinking up the place with chemical smell, jet fumes, and high amount of t/o and landings in the community. One interesting piece about the area is that it still has such a strong Dutch heritage that we had numerous farmers come out and tell us on Saturday afternoon "If you don't get my field sprayed today, don't spray it on Sunday. I don't want anyone working on my farm on Sunday." I can respect that level of dedication.

For some reason my wife and I never made it down for the Tulip festival before moving away in 2009.
 
My home town. My great uncle was Tony Stravers who owned the hardware store on the square that still bears his name.
 
When’s the new engine and prop expected to be completed?
 
Another great video Martin. Sounds like quite a famous bakery!!

When you finally pick up the plane would you mind sharing the total time from drop off to pick up. Looks like you dropped it off May 6th (from iPad screen) so from your response to @455 Bravo Uniform - maybe just 2wks!!!
 
Martin's got more cameras than a jewelry store. Good video Martin.
 
Pella is only 155nm from me. I am adding it to my list! I love Dutch people (based on my visits to The Hague at least).
 
Is there still a plan to close PEA and OOA and consolidate operations by building a new regional airport in between the two towns?
 
Damn! To bad I’m on a diet. Those pastries look fantastic!

Ohh... and the video wasn’t bad. :)
 
Is there still a plan to close PEA and OOA and consolidate operations by building a new regional airport in between the two towns?

Good question. For several years there were tons of large homemade signs in the fields between Oskie and Pella saying "NO NEW AIRPORT!". I never heard what the final outcome of that was. The whole deal sounded fishy to me when I read about how they were progressing without environmental studies and one of the county commissioners pushing it would get a large piece of the construction pie, etc. Could be that I just got one side of the story, though.
 
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