holland happening - Oak Harbor

INSURANCE INSIDER
Apr - May 2015
HOLLAND HAPPENING
A
s far back as I can recall, Oak
Harbor has enjoyed its own
unique annual celebration, Holland Happening. Holland Happening began in 1969 and always occurs on the last weekend
in April. It includes a parade,
carnival and more recently, a
street fair. It kicks off every year
with the Old World Dinner (held
at the First Reformed Church)
where diners can enjoy a selection of traditional Dutch foods.
Holland Happening began as
a celebration of the Dutch heritage in Oak Harbor, dating back
to 1860, when a huge immigration of Dutch settled on north
Whidbey Island. The annual
event features many exhibits of
old Dutch trades and wares such
as the famous wooden clogs.
There is always a lot of fun to
be had, including many locals
dressed in traditional Dutch
costumes.
Some of my earliest memories of the parade date back to
elementary school and jr high
when my mother worked at a
local clothing store, Mode O'Day.
I can still remember her Dutch
co-workers dressing up for the
parade in their long, multicolored dresses, aprons, hats
home
and wooden clogs. You could
hear those clogs coming way
down the road as you sat on the
curb waiting for the parade participants to go by (and hopefully
throw you a handful of candy).
Fast forward 40 years and
for the first time since my family
moved here in the early 1960s,
life
I had a chance to participate as
a local business owner in the annual Holland Happening Grand
Parade!
When my business partners
and I started working on the parade, the first decision was, what
would our entry look like? How
do we show our community spirit
and tie it to what we do?
Enter the new Tradewinds
UTVs!! Three adorable little
vehicles decked out in our
business colors and flying our
Tradewinds logo (and ... yes, we
wrote insurance coverage for
them)! Add our wonderful staff
and some banners and we had
cycle
boat
our first parade entry.
Although the day was grey and
overcast, we had a wonderful
time waving to clients, friends
and family ... and of course,
throwing a handful of candy to all
the waiting children.
We hope to see you at the
next parade!
business
Susanne
auto
AUTO
HOME
BUSIN
PIONEER AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES
Memorial
Day
Trivia
R
emember when you were a
kid and your Mom and Dad
finally bought you that ginormous
Lego Pirate Ship and you couldn't
wait to put it all together so it
would look just like the one on
the box?? ...... and then you
opened the box and 10,000 little
tiny Lego pieces descended on
your carpet? And then to make
matters worse, you opened the
instruction booklet and it was
79 pages long? Exactly. Now
you have some understanding of
how we felt when 3 large crates
arrived with a "Some Assembly
Required" notice on them.
Enter our good friend Joel
Mami at Pioneer Automotive
Services and his wonderful
mechanic, Kevin. They not only
allowed us to have the 250 lb
crates delivered to their shop
but they agreed, sight unseen,
to assemble our 3 new UTVs for
the Holland Happening Parade.
Our heartfelt thanks for their
willingness to tackle this project
on our behalf. We can never buy
enough doughnuts to say "Thank
You".
Susanne
 Memorial Day is a day of
remembrance of those
who have died serving our
country.
 Originally known as Decoration Day, it was first
observed on May 20, 1868,
as a day to set aside and
honor the nation's Civil War
casualties by decorating
their graves with flowers.
 On Memorial Day, the flag
should be at half-staff until
noon only, then raised to the
top of the staff.
ASHLEY'S DESIGN
 Red Poppies are recognized
as the Memorial Day flower.
 The last Monday of May was
chosen to coincide with the
time when flowers would
be blooming all over the
country.
Thank
You
Merci
Koszonom
what 3 new UTVs needed for the
Holland Happening parade!! And
thanks to Eric's ingenuity and
willingness to try something new,
our UTVs had large Tradewinds
flags flying behind.
Not only did our flags look
great but so did all the T-shirts
Eric printed for our staff. I still
have a mental picture of arriving
at his shop to pick them up the
day before the parade to find him
buried in T-shirts he was screen
printing for other businesses
and participants in the parade.
When I returned to the office, I
found out he was actually leaving
the next morning with the DECA
club from OHHS to compete in
the National DECA competition in
Orlando, FL. Now that's dedication!!
A huge thank you to Eric and
his staff for our new flags and all
the T-shirts ... we really appreciate all your hard work!!
Susanne
(...and yes, all of the students
involved in the national DECA
competition made it to the top 10!!)
Grazie
Danke
e've recently written several
articles about our local
Oak Harbor High School DECA
Club and the success they have
enjoyed under the leadership of
Oak Harbor High School teacher,
Eric Peterson. But did you know
in his "spare time", Eric also
owns a small business in town,
Ashley's Design? His shop is
located on Midway Blvd (Log
Cabin building) and specializes
in screen printing and letterman
jackets.
Screen printing ... exactly
Obrigado
arigato
W
Mahalo
 New York was the first state
to officially recognize Memorial Day.
 The south refused to honor
the dead on Memorial Day
until after World War I when
the meaning of Memorial
Day changed from honoring
Civil War dead to honoring
Americans who died fighting
in any war.
 In 1951, the Boy Scouts of
St Louis began placing flags
on the 150,000 graves at
Jefferson Barracks National
Cemetery. They continue
that practice to this day.
 Memorial Day was declared
a federal holiday in 1971.
W
arm weather ... we wait all winter
for that first hint of mild weather.
Well it's finally here and that can mean
only one thing ... it's time to dust off
the toys and get outside! Whether your
toy is a boat, motorhome, travel trailer
or motorcycle, we have the companies
and coverage to insure you. If you own
it, we can cover it. Just remember that
coverage provided under your homeowner policy for these types of vehicles
is extremely limited or non-existent. So
give us a call BEFORE you hit the open
road or water and let's make sure you're
protected!
You've Got
The Car Of
Your Dreams
Jenny
The Warm
Weather is
Calling
HEALTH
N
ow how do you protect it?
As anybody who's dealt with an
insurance claim on a classic or antique
vehicle will tell you, it's an important
question. The fact is, the everyday
insurance policy that's perfect for your
daily-use cars just doesn't cut it when it
comes to classics, unless your company
has a specific classic car program. If not,
you may need a specialty policy. Specialty and everyday insurance policies
differ greatly when it comes to a vehicle
value and how you are compensated in
the event of a loss. If you own a classic
vehicle, call me today and let's discuss it!
C H R I S T M A S I N J U LY
E
very summer, our local
community-based, non-profit
food bank, North Whidbey Help
House (NWHH) has a "Christmas
in July Food and Fund Drive".
They started this event to help
keep their shelves stocked during the summer months. With all
the activities at this time of year,
donations generally slow down.
Christmas in July has become a community event year
after year with local businesses
providing food collection boxes or
running promotions to generate
food donations. Each year the
NWHH has seen an increase in
the requests for food with 2013
being a record breaking year with
552 food basket requests a
month.
To help with their efforts,
Tradewinds Insurance has challenged another local business,
Coldwell Banker Koetje Real
Estate to a food drive contest.
Starting July 1, each business
will have 1 month to collect as
much food as possible to be
donated to the NWHH. Koetje
Real Estate has accepted the
challenge .... so CHALLENGE
ON!!! May the best business
win!!!
You can help us win the
challenge by dropping off your
donations at our office starting
July 1. Below is a list of items
that are needed by NWHH:
Ryna
LIFE
Joanna
quick tips
NESS
W
e love to receive feedback from
our clients ... whether it is a simple
thank you, making us aware of a trouble
area or service failure, or celebrating a
job well done! To facilitate this communication, Tradewinds Insurance, in
conjunction with Safeco Insurance, has
developed a short 5 question survey
titled 'Tradewinds Listens'. You can access the survey on line at
tradewindslistens.com
Next time you are on-line, please
take a few minutes and let us know how
we are doing. We truly appreciate your
feedback.
O U R C L I E N T S S AY I T B E S T . . .
“
“Simply the best. The honest and straightforward manner in
which they do business is not often found and I have complete
confidence in all that they do.”
Zoa S. – Oak Harbor, WA
“Everyone I have worked with has been great, not just for this
transaction, but over the past 9 years since I moved out on my
own."
Nancy R. – Everett, WA
“I talked to Jenny Davies. She returned my e-mail and
responded to my concerns within a few hours. I've been a customer for 26 years and am always happy with their service.”
 Monetary donations in
honor of a friend or relative
made payable to NWHH
Gina O. – Stanwood, WA
THE VIEW FROM THE BOWL
 Non-perishable food items
such as canned vegetables,
tuna, spaghetti sauce or
fruit
 Boxed or bagged items
such as cereal, stuffing,
rice, pancake mix, pasta,
oatmeal, granola bars and
cake or muffin mixes
Your
Opinion
Counts
Moby 2.0
I
've heard of seeing red .... but
seeing purple?? It must be
Paint the Town Purple week coming up because I'm seeing purple
”
all around me! I love this time of
year .... the staff is gearing up for
Relay For Life and we are down
to the last couple weeks .... time
to Paint the Town Purple! I hope
everyone local will make it out
to the track this year to walk a
couple laps in the fight against
cancer. If you've never experienced Relay For Life, drop by
and check it out. North Whidbey
Middle School track on SR 20.
Join the Fight!!
home
life cycle
boat
business
PRSRT STD
U.S. Postage
PAID
Permit 46
Oak Harbor, WA
98277
auto
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
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Fax:
3 6 0 - 6 7 9 - 31 10
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and AZ
happy Memorial Day
RELAY FOR LIFE OF WHIDBEY ISLAND
Dr Dawn - Bayshore Chiropractic
A
lmost all of us have been
touched by cancer in some
way, so we've decided to make a
difference by once again raising
money and awareness to help
the American Cancer Society in
the world's largest movement to
end cancer, Relay For Life. Our
local Relay For Life Event is Relay
For Life of Whidbey Island and
will be held at North Whidbey
Middle School on May 29th
and 30th. The Event will begin
at 6:00pm with an Opening
Gerald's Jewelry
Ceremony followed by a Survivors
Lap. This is the first lap of the
Event as all cancer survivors take
a lap around the track cheered
on by the other participants ...
it's a loud and cheery celebration of their victory over cancer.
I always find it sobering that this
lap includes children, teens and
young adults.
Tradewinds Insurance has
been actively involved with Relay
For Life for the past 6 years,
raising close to $10,000 for this
Mark's Auto Repair
important research. We are once
again fundraising for our upcoming Event with our pink flamingos
making an appearance around
town. Each of the businesses
that volunteered to display the
bright pink birds for the day
made a donation towards Relay.
Our many thanks to Gerald's
Jewelry, Martin's Electric, Mark's
Auto Repair, Dr Dawn, Bayshore
Chiropractic and Whidbey Jeweler for their participation.
In addition to the flamingos,
our staff has been working
for the past 5 months to raise
money by making a weekly donation each Friday in exchange for
wearing jeans. Its amazing how
much money we raised!!
Although our team will not be
present at the track this year
due to scheduling difficulties, we
will be there in spirit and look
forward to joining the festivities
again in 2016.
Susanne