Holland Happening holds a special place in Sooz Konopik’s heart.

This week, she and others tasked with running one of Oak Harbor’s biggest festivals are hoping some new changes will capture the hearts of others.

Bringing back features from the past, and adding more authentic new touches, the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce is trying to rekindle the warmth and excitement that for so many years has been associated with the city’s celebration of its Dutch roots.

Holland Happening’s 47th edition starts Thursday night with the opening of the carnival along Bayshore Drive and will continue through the weekend, hoping to bring back fond memories and create new ones.

“To me, it just says community,” said Konopik, the chamber’s events coordinator, who grew up in Oak Harbor and participated in Holland Happening parades as a youth. “It’s a great feeling to belong to a community like this that not only honors its past but also embraces the diversity that we have as well.”

Konopik said the chamber is working to reinvigorate the community’s interest in the festival with new features such as signage in both English and Dutch languages and four wooden, photo boards. Three are Dutch themed.

The 73 vendors that will be part of the downtown street fair were selected by invitation-only this year and asked if they could be involved in games or interactive displays to engage audiences, Konopik said.

The street performers’ acts will be geared more toward entertaining children, she said.

The point is to try to recapture the community’s interest in the festival, harkening back to the days when attendees would come dressed for the occasion in Dutch attire.

Konopik remembers those days well. As a child, she was immersed in the city’s festival scene as the daughter of the Community Band director, and rarely missed a step while participating in parades. Her mother also played in the band.

She remembers women in the community wearing “little white Dutch hats” and men wearing “black little caps and Dutch ties and they’d wear wooden shoes.”

“People really got into it,” Konopik said.

The theme for this year’s event is “Gemeenschap,” which means community.

The traditional Dutch Dinner, prepared by Oak Harbor High School’s Wildcat Catering, will take place from 5:30-7 p.m. Friday, April 29 at the First Reformed Church.

The menu features authentic Dutch dishes such as Erwtensoep (split pea with ham soup), hutspot (mashed potatoes with leeks and sausage), gehaktballetjes en jus (meatballs with gravy), appelmoes (apple sauce), roggebrood (rye bread) and, of course, oliebollen (doughnuts).

The parade is at 11 a.m. Saturday. The grand marshal is Mike Nortier, the former commanding officer of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and new director of Island Transit.

The entries for the parade have been asked to display a Dutch theme with a minimum of 12 tulips. The chamber offered classes on how to build a float.

Pioneer Way will be the center of the festival, showcasing two entertainment stages and a street fair that takes place Saturday and Sunday.

One of Sunday’s highlights is the Klompen Canal Races that start at 2 p.m.

Konopik said the new changes have been well received and she’s been amazed by the outpouring of community support in her first year of coordinating the event.

“We’re really excited,” she said.

“We feel people getting into it.”