Tulip Tours and Travel Services was recently highlighted in the Lynden Tribune. Here is the article which was published on September 30, 2009.
Calvin Bratt
Tribune editor
LYNDEN — Today, Ben Mulder and Don Kooy head out on their 116th, and last, trip at the helm of their travel company, Tulip Tours.
This one will be to Nashville, Memphis and Eureka Springs, Ark., fairly tame in comparison to the nine cruises and at least 15 foreign countries they’ve led groups on over the last 15 years, several of them multiple times.
Effective Nov. 1, Ben and Don and their wives, Grace Mulder and Bernice Kooy, turn over operation of the business to the next generation of the Mulder family. Locally, Bernie and Starla Mulder will become owners, along with sister Flori and Steve Mejeur, of St. Joseph, Mich. Other members of the family in Lynden, Phoenix and Salem, Ore., will also help out.
Kooy calls it a timely infusion of “fresh new young blood” into the successful business.
From Bernie Mulder’s perspective, “I want to keep up the tradition that they’ve made for the company, hundreds of people going on these tours and enjoying the magic of it, because that’s what it is for them.”
On Sept. 8, a Hawaiian-style night of celebration was staged in the Mt. Baker Rotary Building to announce the big change to many local Tulip Tours clients.
The public can attend an open house at the Lynden Community Center on Nov. 17. And at that meeting, sign-up will still be taken for the first tour under the new ownership, “A January Winter Break to Hawaii.”
The two retirees emphasize that they will be available, to the extent they’re needed, to help the new owners learn the ropes of arranging and doing the tours.
Tulip Tours was formed when, both at age 65, Mulder retired from banking and Kooy from recreational vehicle sales.
Their concept took off. From the couples’ planning around a kitchen table and then division of tasks, the details fell into place and people signed up to travel. Usually at a rate of 6-7 tours per year, the Mulders and Kooys would also always do a pre-trip visit themselves to new places to select the right hotels, restaurants and activities.
For tours in Europe, they worked through Dalstra Travel. In turn, Tulip Tours helped the Dutch company set up some Canadian Rockies trips.
Some customers went on more than 20 trips. Good words about Tulip Tours were spread to friends and relatives, so that reservations came in from all over, Ben Mulder said.
Bernie Mulder said he hopes to keep up such positive connections for the future.
The 2010 schedule features Hawaii, Seattle Mariners’ Spring Training in March, the Portland Rose Festival in June, autumn color in the Smoky Mountains in October, and the country music haven of Branson, Mo.
The Branson trip has been done so many times, 23, that Don Kooy can do it in his sleep, Ben Mulder said.
Their biggest trip was an Alaska cruise with 447 people on it. Featuring the Nashville Knox Brothers plus Lynden pastor Kim Ryan and Lynden singer Marcia Wilcox, the Tulip Tours daily event became the main attraction aboard the ship.
