The Van Wingerden family is being honored Saturday as grand marshals of the Farmers' Day Parade in Lynden. 

Dave Van Wingerden says it's all about the family.

 

Reneé Reimer, executive director of the Lynden Chamber of Commerce, says it's all about the flowers.

"Their flowers are seen from the entrance of Lynden on Front Street, past the Fairway Center, and downtown all the way to Homestead Farms," Reimer said. "Lynden is virtually a showcase for the Van Wingerden products."

 

Reimer said Lynden's salute to agriculture dates back to the beginning of the 1900s. It was an annual event by the 1920s and officially named "Farmers' Day Parade" in the 1950s. It's a fun family event with clowns, tractors, floats, school bands, dancing groups and draft-horse teams.

"Every year the chamber chooses to honor one family in agriculture," Reimer said. "The Van Wingerden family has been really generous to Lynden. They not only donate some flowers, but they make the really beautiful baskets that Lynden has become known for."

 

Although this is one of the busiest times of year for the Van Wingerdens, Dave generously made time to answer some questions.

 

Question: Why is this time of year especially busy?

 

Answer: There are about 350 baskets hung in Lynden. Most of the plants the city puts in the garden beds come from our greenhouses. We supply some other local towns with plants as well.

 

My brothers and I have built the business in the last 20 years. We have four greenhouses now.

 

Mike is in Blaine, my greenhouse is in Lynden, Steve is near Ferndale, and my dad (John Van Wingerden) has his own place in Lynden. Most of our business is to supply the larger chain stores, but Mike does some retail out on Portal Way. We specialize in flowers, the spring crops such as geraniums and other bedding plants, and holiday crops such as poinsettias.

 

Q: Why are your greenhouses in so many locations?

 

A: My dad always said that once we're up to a size that one person can handle on his own, we should start another greenhouse and not be on top of each other, but still work together. And that's what we do.

We each have our own business, but we do a lot together. We have lunch together three times a week.

 

Our families are very close. We do birthdays and things like that together. We go on vacation together in the summer, all the families and Mom (Barbara Van Wingerden) and Dad and their 38 grandchildren.

 

Q: How many brothers and sisters do you have?

 

A: Mike's the oldest now, then I'm next oldest. Our oldest brother, Len, was a missionary pilot who passed away in 2000. Our sisters, Barb and Ame live in Chilliwack. Steve was born next, then Bea. Her husband, Gerard, works in the business.

 

Our (extended) family is one of the largest in the U. S. in this industry. They're spread out over the whole country. We haven't tried to have a family reunion. There are too many of us. Just getting the family that lives around here together is a big job.

 

Q: How long has your immediate family been in the business?

 

A: My parents started the business in New Jersey about 40 years ago. In 1972, we moved to Holland as a family and stayed there eight years and had greenhouses. My dad wanted us to have a Christian education, and in New Jersey there were no Christian schools.

 

Mike and I finished horticulture school in Holland, but we were real Americans and just wanted to come home. We always had it in the back of our minds that we weren't going to stay in Holland. We moved to Washington in 1980 and started our first greenhouse on Portal Way. The whole family followed us in 1982.

 

Lynden is a special place for us and for our conservative background. Lynden has the Dutch heritage and is very neat and clean. None of us will consider moving anywhere else.