Lynden grows by design
Community spirit, small town atmosphere and agricultural roots reside in northern Whatcom County

by Elisa Claassen


In the heart of northern Whatcom County’s farmland, with view corridors of Mount Baker to the east and the Canadian Rockies to the north, a visit to Lynden regularly is a day trip for nonresidents from north and south of the border. People enjoy the city’s tree-lined streets, groomed appearance, colorful overflowing flower baskets downtown, and the Dutch theme prevalent throughout the community.
Like Bavarian Leavenworth on the eastern side of the Cascades or Scandinavian Solvang in southern California, Lynden is a theme town. Perched on a hill above the Nooksack River, Lynden has played up its look over the decades to stay economically viable.
Since the community has a large percentage of residents with roots in The Netherlands, it seemed natural to look to that heritage – hence wooden shoes, windmills and the celebration of things agricultural, tidy and beautiful. The site of the 72-foot-tall working windmill and the Dutch Village Mall beneath it now contains delightful shops, a canal with goldfish, and an airy, outdoor atmosphere.
Yet, once upon a time, this same mall housed one of the local car dealerships. Further down Front Street, the Chamber of Commerce location had been a bank, Dutch Mother’s Restaurant was a drug store, and the Delft Square Mall was carved out of the city’s largest former department store, Lynden Department Store, originated by the late businessman Billy Waples. An antique shop was once an auto parts store; a former hardware store is now a teahouse.
Attorney and visionary Jim Wynstra, along with his wife Carolyn and various business partners, have been behind the transformation – the creation of Dutch Mother’s and the Dutch Village Mall – as well as creating Homestead NW, which created the golf community of that name on the north side of town on former berry fields. Their work fits well with the vision statement created by community members.
In “Lynden 2010: A vision for the community,” town residents worked together to set an objective. The result was to focus on retaining the community spirit, small-town atmosphere and agricultural roots. The authors of this vision wrote, “Historically, a sense of community spirit has been enhanced and encouraged through acts of caring and kindness, a sense of community trust and understanding, a strong attitude of volunteerism and citizenship, organized community activities, a feeling of teamwork to confront common goals and ownership in the future of the City of Lynden.”

Housing Lynden’s history: Lynden Pioneer Museum
Troy Luginbill has been the director of the Lynden Pioneer Museum at the far end of the city’s commercial district on Front Street since 1997. The red brick building, a former farming implement business, was turned into a museum – a volunteer effort – during the country’s bicentennial year. Area residents were asked to bring in items from family attics and collections. They responded full force.
Although fundraising has been ongoing since the museum’s inception, the needs have grown with salaries for staff and planned capital projects. One anticipated addition to the south end of the building would include better access for disabled visitors.
“Most people agree that the museum is beyond belief for a town the size of Lynden to have built,” Luginbill said. “They are surprised and amazed not just by the size but also the scope of the collections. We are one of the few museums in the United States that shows daily life of a western settlement community from the homestead to the main street. And of course everyone loves the buggies.”
The Polinder buggy collection is a favorite feature of the museum, which is planning a new auto exhibit to celebrate its 30th anniversary, “Putting old Dobbin to Pasture; The Transition from Horse to Motor Vehicles.” The exhibit continues the Polinder buggy display and adds classic automobiles, which are on loan to the museum.

Tourism and Welkom
Renee Reimer, a 45-year resident, has been the first and only director of the city’s Chamber of Commerce. When she started in January of 1992 the position was part-time. The Chamber had 130 members with a budget of approximately $14,000. It now has 350 members with more than $250,000 in its budget.
Since 1992, the city has incorporated more festivals into its calendar from Holland Days in the spring to Lynden in Lights, the Christmas-time holiday light display and festival.“We are satisfied that Lynden has the right amount of festivals and special events right now, “Reimer said. “We are concentrating on making what we have bigger and better. Last year, we added jazz music to the Razz Festival and were very pleased with those results.
“We have seen many new tour groups and especially have begun marketing more seriously to Red Hat groups. We continue to work with a national tour company, Country Tours, which brings in a busload of folks from all over the country every Saturday.
“The city recently added a 2 percent hotel/motel tax to Lynden accommodations, with the support of those service providers, to use the funds to expand our marketing efforts for Lynden.”
Lynden’s Chamber has also incorporated a welcome program to new residents called the “Welkom Basket.” Due to the amount of growth, Reimer said she has hired another part-time hostess for a total of three to keep up with the demand.
The Chamber gets names of people who have moved into Lynden within the last year from outside the 98264 zip code. A phone call is made to see if they would like a visit and a basket. A Dutch-attired hostess arrives to say “hello” and bring gifts such as homemade Dutch raisin buns from the Lynden Dutch Bakery, fresh gouda cheese from Appel Farms, and a coupon book worth literally hundreds of dollars from the more than 70 program sponsors.
From the visits the Chamber writes a brief report, which is sent to the sponsors, and statistics are compiled and copies are sent to the mayor and the city council.
“This is an interesting note,” Reimer adds. “When we say to them ‘What would you like to say to the mayor and city council?’ they almost invariably say that they moved here because Lynden is clean and neat, it feels safe, they love the downtown and they have never been welcomed to any town like this before.”

Government and growth
Lynden, population 10,750 in the latest count, operates under a part-time mayor and full-time city administrator system. Bill Verwolf had 18 years experience as a city and county administrator prior to coming to Lynden as city administrator. The number of employees in city hall in 1996 was approximately 15. Ten years later that number has only increased to 19, but the city is outgrowing its home. Talks of relocating to another city hall facility have continued for more than a decade. The current building was constructed in 1928. An option was taken on a Front Street property in 1990, but not utilized.
One possibility now may be to use a modular building at Third and Main streets at the old Copeland Lumber site, while another is to relocate the offices to the Lynden Medical complex across from the Fairway Shopping Center until a new building can be constructed in another 10 years.
One problem is that building sites are scarce in the center of the city, explained Mayor Jack Louws, even though commercial zoning extends from 1st to 7th streets between Front and Main streets. Several of those seeking business locations have moved their legal practices, insurance or other professional offices into homes within that zoning.
Louws, the 48-year-old mayor graduated from Lynden High School in 1976, attended college briefly and then decided “working was the best option for me.” Since 1983, he has been general manager, president and now co-owner, with wife Cindy, of Louws Truss, Inc.
His late father, John Louws, preceded him in both the family business and in community politics. John started the company as a general contracting firm in the early 1950s, served eight years on the Lynden City Council and was Whatcom County’s first executive.
“My dad was my closest mentor, both in business and politics,” Jack Louws said. “I always say that if I can accomplish half of what he has done in his life, I’d be satisfied.”
Mayor Louws, who said he was impacted as a then-teen by seeing his father on the council and the resulting conversations they had at the dinner table, was 28 when he started serving a four-year term on the Lynden City Council from 1990 through 1993. Since his children were young and he had other commitments, he chose not to run again for council, he said.
As his children grew up, friends in the local business community talked him into running for mayor. He is now in his second term of the part-time position of mayor, which translates to approximately 100 hours a month, he estimated.
Louws sees his role as a facilitator. “My job is to make sure staff has the tools that they need,” he said.
One project that will need his facilitating skills is finding a site for a new grocery store on the east side of town. While no plans are currently in the works, Louws says it’s among the most common requests he hears from residents.
“If private industry wants to make that happen, I would be concerned that it is located properly, so that it does not adversely impact the quiet neighborhood atmosphere that we now enjoy.”
At one time, Bellingham-based grocer Haggen, Inc. had purchased a few homes in the blocks north of the city’s downtown to build a grocery. A heated debate between those wanting to encourage growth in the downtown core and those who wanted a library for the same site grew more heated. Eventually, Haggen withdrew from that attempt and the library was built across the street from its old location on Grover Street.
Becky Skaggs, director of Strategic Planning for Haggen, Inc., said the company has continued to be open for possibilities for another location for Lynden and has received calls from residents who would like a store, but nothing is in the plans now.
In the early 1990s, when the Growth Management Act was placed into law, Lynden went through the exercise of defining its growth areas and since then has been methodically building infrastructure to match this plan. Louws said the emphasis on residential development is currently on the east side of town, and between 180 and 200 single family residential equivalent units are anticipated to be built each year for the next few years.
Reasonably priced agricultural land is going to become more difficult to obtain, further reducing the ability of local farmers to prosper and/or expand, he added.
“Growth management has concentrated the growth more efficiently into the urban areas, but it has also been a factor in the extreme increase we have seen county-wide in property values,” Louws said. “Therefore, those who have the financial capacity to buy a $200,00 lot in an urban area also have the option to buy a 10-acre parcel in rural Whatcom County for $200,000 to build their dream home. It works for them, but it is not feasible for a dairy, berry or apple farmer to get a great enough return on the investment to afford property that has a $20,000 per acre value.”
Lynden has been methodical in creating clean boundaries between rural and urban areas.
“We are growing, but in areas that for the most part have been divided into rural residential lots many years ago by the county,” Louws said. “Our net loss of farmland due to Lynden’s expansion is minimal, and if we look at the density of people we are housing per acre, it looks great compared to the loss of farmland due to the five-acre subdivided properties in the county.”
Lynden’s administration does what it can to protect and sustain the area’s agricultural past into the future.
“We want to continue to provide a good business climate for our implement dealers and farm supply stores to work in, creating the balance needed for a sustainable industry,” Louws said. “I do not have an answer for the high-priced real estate, water right problems the farmers are also experiencing, regulatory conditions that add additional burdens to the product cost due to environmental concerns specific to the area, and a marketing system that makes it difficult for farmers to make ends meet.”
Even small towns need not only commercial and residential districts, but Louws and the council consider Lynden’s industrial capacity to be of importance.
“The council is committed to protect the area west of the Guide Meridian for future industrial and commercial businesses,” Louws said. “I feel it is extremely important for the city to have areas available to provide jobs for our residents. This will ultimately create the balance we need to have to have a sustainable economic base.”

Shopping/commercial district
Lynden’s shopping district has expanded over the years from the central business district along Front Street to the Fairway Shopping Center in the 1960s and, in more recent years, new strip malls along the Guide Meridian to the west and a complex along Badger Road to the north. While some things seem to stay the same, people who have lived in the community for a few decades know that change is ever present.
The downtown sector’s parking is monitored during the heavily visited summer months, but it is free and easily accessible to merchants and other vendors. While some of the pharmacies, hardware stores and physicians may have moved their offices or stores away from downtown, the district has acquired a selection of antique, gift, book and clothing shops, intermingled with a variety of coffee and tea shops and eateries.
Businessman Al Kennedy of Parts Warehouse and AB Dental Trends, a dental industry parts manufacturer, left his former company, Dentech, in Sumas in 1995, when he decided to locate his own business in Lynden on Grover Street. When the concept for the business was first forming, Renee Reimer of the Chamber of Commerce walked him around the back alleys of Lynden to find a place to lease.
“She was instrumental in locating our first facility, and I’d have to say that the manner in which Jack Louws, as mayor, conducts business has kept us from moving to another town during our last growth spurt, during which we outgrew our current building,” Kennedy said.
“Both Renee and the city have been wonderful to work with, and if I can say anything at all, it is simply that the City of Lynden has not only made us feel welcome, their unwritten policy of working with business on an as-needed basis has cemented our future here. It is a wonderful town to work in, good source of labor, close to other towns, clean, neat and vibrant, and has lots to offer for support services.
“Things just fell together for us the past few years,” Kennedy continued. “Permitting is straightforward and fast, Rosendahl and Honcoop stepped up to the plate for us as general contractors and we were able to finance through Horizon bank – also a strong local company. Our business financing is handled by US Bank – right next door. It does not get any better than that. Lynden is for the most part a turn-key town for business, and a great place to live.“
A short drive from downtown along tree-lined Front Street, the 13,000-square-foot Fairway Center property has been in the Kooy family for more than 100 years. Current generation Byron Kooy’s great-grandfather Herman Oordt bought the property and had a poultry business there. Byron’s father Harold Kooy turned the former chick hatchery into the first grocery store called Harold’s IGA Foodliner in 1960. This was the start of Fairway Center.
Today, shoppers will notice construction fencing on the west side of the center. A new 7,600-square-foot section will consist of four retail stores. The new section will be flanked by a Wood’s Coffee Shop with a drive-up window on one side and on the other side a relocated Fairway Drug, also with a drive-up window. Two smaller retail spaces are available for lease between these two tenants. Building on Lynden’s Dutch heritage, a 53-foot-tall windmill was constructed as part of the addition.

The Northwest Washington Fair
No look at the city of Lynden would be complete without mentioning the Northwest Washington Fair. According to Mildred Hersman’s history of the Fair, the first fair, circa 1909, was held on the street – in the mud. Early Lynden had dirt roads, a lot of rain, and no sidewalks.
Tables were placed along Front Street between Fourth and Fifth streets to hold most of the exhibits. Pigs, cattle and sheep occupied spots for viewing along adjacent side streets. Milkshakes made of thick cream and old-fashioned ice cream were blended together in a hand shaker with fresh strawberries. A parade preceded a baseball game and other participant games and a beautiful baby contest.
In 1911 the fair moved from downtown. The initial 20 acres of the current site across from the Fairway Center along Front Street was purchased for $1,600. The wooded property was cleared and an infield for games, an exhibit building, cattle shed, bleachers and fence were built for the first fair at the location in October of that year.
Over the years, the first grandstand burned and was rebuilt, ownership was converted from a private corporation to the city and a long-term lease with the county, a marketing manager was hired, and additional land was purchased to increase its size. Additional buildings have been built not only to house fair exhibits but are rented to outside groups for events throughout the year, such as the Building Association Home and Garden Show, antique and craft shows, horse shows, tractor pulls and a rodeo.
During the week-long fair, approximately 200,000-plus fairgoers come to town.
Lynden’s future
When questioned about the proximity of the new casino to be built by the Nooksack Tribe only a few miles north of Lynden near the U.S.-Canada border surrounded by farms, Lynden Mayor Jack Louws replied, “I have, as mayor, written the Nooksack Tribe requesting that they do not construct the casino on the Northwood Road due to the commercial nature of the business in the heart of our agricultural land; due to the impacts on the local residents that will change the rural nature of the area; and because as a businessman [I think] that having two like business in the same service area is not usually a wise business move.
“As of today (late June), they have not responded to my letter,” Louws said. “Individual members of the city council are currently considering whether to weigh in on the subject. The casino is ultimately a Whatcom County-government issue, but in the long term it will have an impact on Lynden.”
The community has worked hard to preserve its way of life, and Louws is concerned the casino will impact its quality.
“I know that Lynden is not Mayberry, but quite a few new residents like the community,” he added. “They say they feel safe, that they have friendly neighbors, and that they feel welcome. In many ways, I feel we have more of a sense of community today than we have had in the past.
“Our community events are excellent, and the number of volunteers at the Chamber of Commerce, the Lynden Pioneer Museum, Community Center, Lynden Library, health care centers, churches, schools, day cares, and in local government is phenomenal.
“I walked to school, shopped downtown for sporting goods and candy, played in the parks, swam at the pool, and played ball throughout the community when I was a kid. For the most part, kids today can and do the same.
“I think it’s a great place to live.”