Oak Harbor's 'Happening' hit by hoopla

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OAK HARBOR - Fame breeds strange bedfellows.

In the 32 years that this Whidbey Island town has been celebrating Holland Happening, its paean to things Dutch and homegrown, its parade has featured folksy local groups such as the Whidbey Whirlers square-dance troupe and the Hugo Helmer Accordion Band.

But this year, after a diplomatic crisis centering on the fate of 24 crew members of a Navy plane based at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, this town of 22,000 has become a focus of national, even international attention. And its Holland Happening parade tomorrow is, accordingly, going glitzier.

Holland Happening The 32nd Holland Happening festival is this weekend in Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island. The two-hour parade is tomorrow, starting at 11 a.m. by Skagit Valley College at East Pioneer Way and Regatta Drive. The parade route follows East Pioneer Way and Bayshore Drive, ending at Pioneer Way and Highway 20.

The big draw at the parade will be nine crew members, who will serve as honorary grand marshals. In addition, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and the Seattle Seahawks SeaGals will be sharing the limelight with the likes of the Daffodil Festival float and the dancers from Auntie Flo's Hula Hut. Even erstwhile presidential candidate Ross Perot seems to be involved.

"When I first heard, it was: `Oh my God, are they serious?!?' " said Mary Till, a dealer at the Shady Ladies Antiques store in Oak Harbor. "Not that I have a problem with that, but why are the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders coming here? I don't get the connection."

Perot, who has previously paid for travel appearances by the Dallas cheerleaders, will apparently be paying up again, flying them in and out of Whidbey Island tomorrow in his private jet, according to the cheerleaders. (Perot was out of town and his office could not confirm the information.)

As for Texas cheerleaders participating in a small-town Washington parade, "I don't find it odd at all," said Cindi Burck-Alsobrook, one of the five Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders attending the parade. The group regularly entertains the troops, logging 43 overseas trips over the years.

"If there are troops somewhere, we will eventually show up," Burck-Alsobrook said.

The U.S. spy plane carrying the "Whidbey 24" made an emergency landing on China's Hainan Island after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet April 1. After being detained for 15 days, the 21 men and three women were released to great fanfare in the U.S.

On Whidbey, that meant about 100 media calls to the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce the week the crew came home. A few still keep in touch, said Executive Director Priscilla Heidecker.

"We're not used to this much attention," said Heidecker, who expects network as well as local television crews to cover the parade. "We're a military community so we're used to comings and goings, but not to this extent."

Holland Happening started as a celebration of the town's Dutch heritage. Over the years, it's evolved into a community and folk festival, with the Navy base taking part as well as businesses, schools, Boy Scout troops and folk-arts groups.

"It's a real hometown-type parade, typically," Heidecker said.

But parade veterans, like 68-year-old Janette van Slageren Ellis, don't mind the glitzier tone this year. Ellis, who helped found the festival, will spend tomorrow rotating through three different Dutch costumes and coordinating entertainment on three stages.

Said Ellis: "Every time someone asks me: `How do you feel about this happening to a Dutch thing?' I say: Oh, the Dutch are very tolerant."

This year's parade is "very unusual," Ellis said. "But nothing is usual this year."