FOLEY, Ala. - For two-and-a-half decades, Dutchman's Lawn and Garden has been a part of the local business community.

    The lawn and garden company sells and repairs equipment and has become a business staple of the Foley area. The current owner of the company, Ron Dekok, started the company with his father in June of 1986, but Dekok believes the road to beginning the company is quite interesting.

    His father and mother started out in Holland — where the company name comes from — but traveled to America in 1955 to "chase the American dream," as Dekok puts it. They settled for a few years in Ohio, where Dekok grew up, before moving to Florida in the 1980s.

    While living in Milton, Fla., they found the property located on U.S. 98 just east of the Foley Beach Expressway and decided to start a new business. The decision worked out pretty well for them, as the company still calls that land its home.

    When asked to describe the area in the late 1980s, Dekok said "it wasn't like it is now."

    "It was still a lot of farm land. Down where all the burger joints are, those were bean fields. The beach wasn't anything like it is now. It was just two little podunk towns."

    Dekok looks back on the journey from then to now and calls it "a challenge."    "It's been and still is a long, hard road," Dekok said, noting the recent recession has impacted his business. "We didn't do any advertising. It was all by word of mouth.

    "It's a grind. Some days it pays off and some days it doesn't. It's a roller-coaster ride."

    Even the shift from the Midwest to Alabama was a "culture shock."

    "This place has totally flipped around, though," Dekok said. "I'm not moving back to Ohio. I like it here. This is home."

    If anything, the 25 years symbolizes how Dekok and his father started from scratch and built the business from the ground up.

    Dekok said it started when he and his father bought a used lawn mower to mow their own yard, and had to do some repair work. When residents saw them working on the mower, they asked for repairs to be done on theirs. This blossomed into what became Dutchman's Lawn and Garden.

    The land being used now only had a concrete slab at first, Dekok said. From there, they built the beginning of the company, a square room over the concrete. The business grew and eventually added a showroom, gun shop and repair shop.

    Dekok said some of the enjoyable moments in the company's life includes the time he and his dad built the showroom, which includes all of the equipment —lawn mowers, trimmers, power tools, etc — offered. The equipment is of the Hasqvarna brand, which the company has sold since 1989. That moment is shown in the store in a photograph. Dekok and his father standing in front of the store.

    "We made it this far and built this. That was memorable," he said.

    In the end, Dekok is glad the business has this long and he hopes it will continue for many more.

    "We've seen a lot of stuff happen in 25 years. We've seen a lot of stuff come and go, but we're still here," he said.

    Dekok is 50 years old and has two kids. His dad retired from the business in 1996 and died in 2006. When asked when he would follow his father's lead and retire, he said he's not sure yet.

    "We're taking it in stride. It's all good," he said. "I'm hoping my kids can take over and keep it going for another 25 years."