One of the simple pleasures of being in Lynden is the city itself, originally a Dutch settlement. The main street through the historic district starts as a very pretty drive through a wide street with beautiful homes and churches for a mile or so before everything opens up at the business center. This runs maybe 5 or so city blocks with a big windmill at the beginning and a nice little city park at the other end. In between are many buildings, most of them original construction, and the architecture is well worth admiring. Along the sidewalks on both sides of the street are huge hanging baskets of flowers. If youre taller than 3 feet, youll need to duck or walk around them. It is really worth the stroll and your admiration of the impressive baskets.
At the eastern end of the historic district is the museum which is well worth the time. Earlier this year, we did spend some time walking this district, and visited the Chamber of Commerce to gather some tourist information and talk with the very friendly nice lady inside. Of course, people are justifiably proud of their town and this lady helped us learn
Maybe the first real break from our labors to get moved into the RV was in when Lynden held the Northwest Raspberry festival. The city closes 4 or 5 blocks of the main street through Lyndens historic district for this festival which is pretty much a celebration of the raspberry harvest. One side street is has a food fair of a few food trucks, and the next side street has a stage where some pretty decent local entertainers perform while the audience enjoys their mostly raspberry treats.
The most entertaining and biggest reason to visit the raspberry festival is the annual basketball tournament. The entire length of each block along the street of the fair is marked off into several basketball courts. All day for each day of the fair, the courts are busy with games, all ages and both boys and girls represented. The in a single elimination tournament format for each age group.
We went fairly early the first day, so the games we saw were mostly of younger grade school boys and girls teams. There were very few normal rules about double dribbling or traveling and it really is interesting to see the kids playing. Their intensity is amazing to see, as are the parents, who get into the games almost as much as their kids.
Natalie was standing in line for one of the raspberry treats when she asked a lady in line with her who was obviously a basketball mother How early do these kids start to play? The ladys response: In the womb.
What made the festival more interesting and relevant to Natalie and me was the fact our realtor was a graduate of a local high school, and was a very good basketball player for the high school team. He also spent time as one of the schools assistant coaches, so he knew basketball as well as Lyndens basketball prowess. His teams most significant rival was Lynden High School. So, in addition to enjoying the festival for the event it was, it explained why our realtor knew Lynden as well as he did.
