Anyone new to Oak Harbor has likely noticed some pretty strange looking names while combing through the phonebook — Beeksma, Zylstra, Nienhuis, VanderHoek, Vanderlinder, Vande Werfhorst, and every Vander in between.

But in Oak Harbor, where Dutch immigrants were among the pioneers making early claim, these surnames are as common as Smith and Jones. That’s why windmills make appearances at pocket parks around town and on postcards sent to friends.

During this weekend’s Holland Happening Festival — Oak Harbor’s annual time to celebrate its Dutch roots — the city’s landmark windmill in Windjammer Park is being honored and those who made it possible remembered.

“Our Dutch heritage is important to remember,” said Ed Beeksma, who proposed the windmill back in the late 1970s. “The windmill is a beacon people see when coming into the harbor that reminds them of our pride.”

At the time he proposed the windmill in 1978, Beeksma was a former city councilman who approached the council of the time with an idea he hoped would pass muster. The city was looking to build a storage building for Little League equipment and other parks and recreation necessities — while Beeksma had visions of windmills dancing in his head.

At first it appeared the wind would be let out of the windmill’s sails before the first hammer was lifted.

“They said they couldn’t do it because it was beyond the cost they planned for the project,” Beeksma said.

With Dutch determination, Beeksma headed to friends and colleagues in the community who then grabbed their checkbooks and signed on to make it happen.

He raised $10,000 total — the extra cost for making a storage building into a Dutch icon — which the city council was happy to approve.

“When I saw the opportunity, all it took was a few phone calls and the community jumped in to help,” he said. “That’s just how things are done in this town.”

Beeksma-Gateway Park, on the fringe of Windjammer Park and a few football fields away from the windmill, stands as homage to the Beeksma family and their home that once stood on the site.

The blueprints for the windmill were drafted by Sparks Smith Architects of Anacortes, based on authentic Dutch windmill plans acquired by Gerben and Rene Nydam — parents of current Oak Harbor Parks Manager Hank Nydam.

Bud Winterburn and his Winterburn Contruction lead the project, with foreman Bud Zylstra heading a crew that included his brother Don Zylstra and nephew Chuck Heller.

“It was one of those projects you threw your level away and squared away all the angles,” Zylstra remembered with a laugh.

Longtime mason Leroy Dejoung helped lay the bricks for the windmill and the foundation for much of Oak Harbor.

“I’m one of the guys whose work is all over the city,” said Dejoung, a 50-year construction veteran.

J.T. Trask helped lift the sails into place with a crane and much effort.

“There was a lot of hollering that day,” Chuck Heller laughed.

In March of 1979, a Whidbey News-Times article declared the construction on the Oak Harbor windmill was “moving rapidly along” but wouldn’t be done in time for Holland Happening.

By mid-April the windmill was “inching one step closer to completion.”

“Winterburn Construction workers braved brisk winds Wednesday morning to attach sails to the Dutch symbol in the sky,” reads an April 26 News-Times article. “The rigorous routine was broken with periodic cheers as they successfully fitted the lumber in place.”

The windmill was dedicated Friday, April 27, 1979. A May 3 Whidbey News-Times article described the joyous day.

“Spirits were as high as the sails on the windmill,” the first line reads.

Dutch dancers performed, NJROTC marched and the Oak Harbor High School Stage Band played the National Anthem — all in tribute at the time to Holland Happening’s 10-year commemoration.

The “gala events” emceed by Ted Zylstra brought out city officials, civic leaders, plenty of speeches, Councilman Mike Milat presenting the windmill to the city, Mayor Al Koetje accepting and dedicating the structure, and “anyone interested in a sunny afternoon” enjoying the day.

Special thanks were given to the private donors who funded the windmill, as well as countless volunteers who’d been working feverishly for that spring’s Holland Happening festival.

“It’s a wonderful way to go from 10 years ago,” Jan Koetje, that year’s Holland Happening chair, was quoted of the efforts.

Bob Zylstra’s memories of early Oak Harbor are reminiscent of images of his Dutch homeland.

“There were dirt streets and farmers would bring straw by wagon right up to the town dock,” he said.

This year Zylstra will be among those Holland Happening faithful who line the parade route year after year. He and his family are on the roll call of descendants of Dutch pioneers who will watch images of their own heritage walk down the street, alongside colorguards, police, fire and city dignitaries cub scouts, little leaguers, and other colorful representatives of the community.

Zylstra invites everyone to come out to the Dutch dinner at the First Reformed Church the Friday of Holland Happening week. That’s where authentic Dutch foods will be cooked in large quantities, enough to share with an extended family of Dutch and honorary Dutch.

He’ll be there, as he is every year. His daughter, Susan Brown, will head up from Shoreline to continue to the family tradition.

Holland Happening, that is when the food of the homeland is enjoyed, tulips are in bloom, klompen are stompin’ and the Oak Harbor windmill stands tall in its glory.

“It’s just a great time,” Zylstra said. “And that windmill’s there to watch over it all.”