Professional dance troupe Momix will bring the Sonoran desert to the stage with "Opus Cactus." Photo courtesy: Mount Baker Theatre.
I wouldn’t really say that I “haunt” the theatre. I’m more of a friendly spirit. Everyone calls me Judy. I’ve been floating through the ornately beautiful Mount Baker Theatre (MBT) since it opened in 1927. Although I try to stay out of the way, I haven’t been able to completely avoid the notice of several MBT ushers and projectionists. Sometimes I make a little too much noise. Once in a blue moon I move something and forget to put it back, and occasionally I can’t help but glide through someone’s snapshot in the balcony. I simply love the beauty of this creaky historic building.
I’m so glad that they continue to take good care of the paintings and sculptures in the original Moorish -Spanish style. I imagine it’s easier for employees and visitors to see me when they’re surrounded by the decorative faces of angels, nymphs, dragons, griffins, gargoyles, people, and animals that populate the walls of the grand building that I call home. I like puttering through the building and people-watching its many interesting visitors. The truth is, I don’t ever want to leave. And why would I when I get to see so many incredible shows and performers from all over the world?
Mount Baker Theatre hosts a variety of renowned acts to its stage throughout the year. For a look at this season’s upcoming show, visit Mount Baker Theatre online. Photo courtesy: Mount Baker Theatre.
I simply must tell you how excited I am to see one of my favorite shows return to MBT in October. Of course, it’s also my favorite month of the year for obvious reasons, but I digress. When the fall dampness returns to the orchestra pit, I’ll be able to escape for just a while to the American desert southwest with the professional dance company Momix. On October 18, they’ll bring the stark beauty and vibrant colors of the Sonoran desert right to the stage as they perform “Opus Cactus.”
They’ve come to MBT more than once before, and I’ve danced along with them in the back when everyone was looking at the stage. I love the creative costumes, clever props, energetic music, and how the performers seem to float silkily — just like me — as they dance their way around the stage. I’ve overheard in the office that the Momix dancers will create the illusion of cactuses, slithering lizards, and fire dancers. I imagine families will enjoy this show that’s supposed to be an enchanted escape into a dangerous yet funny world of motion.
From Vikings sporting events to a walk through the Sculpture Park, there is an activity for every interest at Western Washington University. Photo courtesy: Bellingham Tourism.
Hundreds of Western Washington University students, alumni, employees and family members will gather in downtown Bellingham on Wednesday, Sept. 21 for the inaugural Paint Bellingham Blue for WWU festival welcoming the city’s newest residents ? new WWU students ? and to celebrate the beginning of the new academic year. Western’s first day of fall classes is Sept. 21.
Depot Market Square will be filled with local vendors, food trucks, games, giveaways and music from KUGS-FM student radio from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. WWU President Sabah Randhawa and WWU Associated Students President Stephanie Cheng will lead a group of about 500 students from Red Square, arriving downtown about 6:00 p.m. in time to watch the iconic sign atop the Herald building become WWU-blue for the first time in history.
“This is an exciting opportunity to introduce our new students to the downtown community and strengthen the important sense of shared community and culture that binds Western and Bellingham,” Randhawa said. “With around 15,000 Western alumni in the Bellingham area and many local collaborations with public and private partners, the connections are powerful, personal, and longstanding. Paint Bellingham Blue is fun way to foster new connections and share our pride in being Bellingham’s university.”
Downtown street trees decorated with blue lights and light poles sporting new WWU banners are also part of the Paint Bellingham Blue for WWU celebration. “We want to create a new annual tradition to welcome and celebrate students in their new home and showcase their new city,” said Chris Roselli, the WWU Alumni Association’s Young Alumni and Student Program director. Several retailers will offer discounts and free items to students, while members of the Student Alumni Association will receive “Viking Bucks” to spend at the event.
“We also want local alumni to join us to show new students the power of the alumni community that is available to them,” Roselli said.
Students will be able to sign their names on a banner that will remain up all year on the side of the Bellingham Herald Building at Western City Center.
The evening will culminate at about 7:15 p.m. when Randhawa and Cheng will officially turn the landmark “HERALD” sign blue. The iconic red neon sign atop the Bellingham Herald Building was recently replaced with a modern LED system that can display any color.
The evening will end with a fireworks display from the roof of the Herald building, but the festival will continue for alumni, Western employees, students’ families and others at Boundary Bay Brewery Beer Garden.
Through October, 200 trees in Bellingham’s downtown core are decorated with blue lights, while about 75 downtown light poles are adorned with WWU banners. And about 100 businesses display signs advertising discounts for Western students and alumni.
Paint Bellingham Blue for WWU is free to attend for members of the Western community, but registration is required. Click here to register and to learn more.
WhatcomTalk Community Manager, Stacee Sledge, will join marketing pros Jennifer Jones and Patti Rowlson on Thursday, June 2 for an hour-long panel discussion about online branding.
When we found out that Whatcom Women in Business nominated WhatcomTalk Community Manager Stacee Sledge as Professional Woman of the Year, we weren’t surprised.
Since helping launch WhatcomTalk nearly three years ago, Sledge has been invested in the company one hundred percent. From writing articles for the community social network in its infancy, to networking and forging community partnerships with businesses and organizations across the county, Sledge has lived up to her title as Community Manager — and all while helping build a community hub dedicated to sharing positive stories about what it’s like to live, work, and play in Whatcom County.
Stacee Sledge is WhatcomTalk’s Community Manager.
“I have the absolute pleasure of knowing and working with Stacee,” WhatcomTalk Community Relations and Business Development Manager Kevin Coleman said. “I met her over two years ago when the company I was then working for became a WhatcomTalk customer. Stacee’s passion and vision for creating a new social media platform with a positive influence on our community won me over. I now have the honor to be working with her as we grow WhatcomTalk into the company it deserves to be.”
The vision Coleman mentioned is one that Sledge formed after working with WhatcomTalk’s sister site ThurstonTalk in Olympia. That’s where she met NorthAmericaTalk Chief Research Officer, Dan Jones.
“Stacee is strategic with her ideas and executes on those plans,” Jones said. “Over the last six years of working with Stacee, now as a business partner, she always has brought a smile, knowledge, and drive to each opportunity.”
Kevin Coleman and Stacee Sledge enjoy networking with other business owners and sharing marketing ideas with the Whatcom County community.
Whether interacting with a coworker or a community member, Sledge leaves a lasting impression. “Her love for her family, community, and the positive impact that’s required from her at all times is inspiring,” Coleman added. “Stacee has a commitment to the community in supporting positive and healthy relationships with other business leaders in our area and is more than deserving of being the Professional Woman of the Year for Whatcom County.”
Sledge will be recognized for her accomplishment on October 25 during the Professional Woman of the Year Banquet and Auction. For more information about Sledge and Whatcom Women in Business’ other Professional Woman of the Year nominees, visit Whatcom Women in Business’ website.
Gato Verde's 42-foot plug-in diesel electric hybrid catamaran takes passengers into Bellingham Bay. Photo courtesy: Fiddlehead Tours and Adventures.
A lot of tourists choose the Seattle area for their visit to Washington because of its well-known landmarks like the Space Needle and Mount Rainier. But Fiddlehead Tours and Adventures owner Sarah Grainger believes that Whatcom County is a much better choice. “There is so much right here that’s so awesome, and in Whatcom County everything is so accessible. We don’t have to deal with traffic and crowds,” observes Grainger. But what’s special about Fiddlehead is that her approach looks at the big picture, considering every element of her businesses impact on the community and the planet, from paying workers a living wage and using locally-sourced food in reusable containers, to treading lightly on the land.
In 2004, while Grainger was a Western Washington University student working as an intern at Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism, she noticed no one in our area was offering a variety of organized day-long tours. “There was no central place like you find in larger cities where you can get the full experience of the Bellingham area. So years ago, I knew I wanted to start a business like that, but then life happened,” explains Grainger.
Owner Sarah Grainger developed and coined Fiddlehead’s ‘holistic commodity tourism’ business model. Photo courtesy: Fiddlehead Tours and Adventures.
Life for Grainger meant traveling the world. “I started college in Santa Barbara after high school but didn’t know what I wanted to do so I signed up to go to Spain for a language class and I ended up traveling for about seven years,” remembers Grainger. “I’ve been all over the world, around 27 countries. I taught skiing and climbing and other activities. When I came back to where my parents lived in Bellevue, I came up here for school and instantly found home. Before that, I’d never lived anywhere for more than five years. I’ve been to so many places that people say are the best places in the world, so I can say for sure that Bellingham is thebest place.”
Grainger worked in Bellingham for a bit after college but the travel bug again drew her away for nine more years. She only recently returned to Bellingham with her husband, Nat, to launch her business in April 2016.
Grainger invested over a year of hard-core planning and education for her business in marketing, accounting, and law, including a 15-week Banking on Women program, as well as getting help from WWU’sSmall Business Development Center and the business mentoring program SCORE.
Seeing so much of the world with her own eyes shaped how Grainger approaches her life and business. “I have been a pretty decent environmentalist for a long time. I was fortunate enough to work with Jane Goodall in Switzerland through the Roots and Shoots Program. I wanted my business to take advantage of how fun our world is in a healthy, environmental way,” explains Grainger. “I wanted to make sure that our tours weren’t invasive, and that anyone that works with me gets paid and treated well.”
Fiddlehead hikes explore the best views of the North Cascades including Mt. Shuksan. Photo courtesy: Fiddlehead Tours and Adventures.
That desire helped Grainger discover a business model for her company: ‘holistic commodity tourism,’ a term Grainger coined. “I really didn’t like ‘eco-tourism’ because it is a mess of a word and people aren’t using it with those ideals in mind anymore. Sustainability is a great broad term, but mine is more specific.”
The name Fiddlehead was also carefully chosen. “I’ve always loved ferns because they are the whole deal. They are beautiful, they clean toxins out of soil, the plant helps clean the air, and you can eat the fiddleheads in the spring. They are a symbol for the ideals,” adds Grainger.
Grainger’s company offers a variety of outdoor recreation tours in Whatcom County by partnering with other local businesses. Three levels of intensity are available for her hiking trips. Both local and longer distance bicycling tours happen with the help of Fairhaven Bicycles and a support vehicle. Kayaking tours are with boats from Moondance Sea Kayaking Adventures, a local, female-owned business that’s been operating since 1992. Sailing tours head into Bellingham Bay and the nearby San Juan Islands on a 42-foot plug-in diesel-electric hybrid catamaran maintained by Gato Verde.
Because each tour is limited to four to six people, Grainger is also able to develop custom tours based on the interests and desires of the customer. There is a flexibility you don’t find on larger ‘cattle-style’ tours. “If they are within 30 miles of Bellingham, I’ll pick them up with my car. If it’s hot that day and the group changes their mind about what they want to do, we can just do it,” explains Grainger. “I also try to always include an element of education with each trip, without it becoming like a lecture,” adds Grainger. “Almost every trip also includes a stop for beer or wine, because, come on, it’s Bellingham.”
Kayak tours in Bellingham Bay in boats from Moondance Sea Kayaking Adventures. Photo courtesy: Fiddlehead Tours and Adventures.
As an example, Grainger describes the longer hiking option. “We drive up and stop at the Rome Grocery to pick up our lunch. They work really hard to use all local products. When I told them that we didn’t want to use any plastic, only reusable materials, they were willing to make us granola bars from local products. We then go on our hike and as we come down off Mount Baker we stop at the North Fork Brewery,” explains Grainger. “It’s a great place. How can you skip pizza and beer there? It’s such a great environment classic to this area.”
Each tour is guided and includes a trip photographer so attendees will have a high-quality record of their trip without the hassle or distraction of trying to capture the moments themselves. “They are really good at what they do. I want people to be able to put their phone away and just be present, be with your family, and with your friends,” explains Grainger.
Many of Grainger’s customers have included visitors from out-of-state who want to check out the Pacific Northwest or who are attending a wedding or other event in the area and want to make the most of their trip. The hikes and around-town bicycle tours have been popular. Fiddlehead hosts trips from mid-April through mid-October.
Divers conveniently drop off tanks for air fill up at Washington Divers. Photo credit: Theresa Golden.
Walk into Washington Divers on State Street in Bellingham and you could end up diving off a catamaran in the Bahamas, but you don’t have to venture that far. With shipwrecks, giant Pacific octopus and an underwater marine park, there is plenty to explore close by. “There is life to see in the water and it’s worth that adventure to get in,” shares Julian Garcia, store manager of Washington Divers.
Julian Garcia manages Washington Divers and the Bellingham Dive Conservancy. Photo credit: Theresa Golden.
While it might be easy to think of getting into the waters during the hot summer days, diving is a year-round activity with some of the best visibilities within the water occurring during winter. “People dive year-round here,” Julian explains. “It’s mainly working with the tides. During summer, the tides can be a lot more drastic in the exchanges so it’s not as easy to dive. There’s a lot less time where the water is calm during that disparity in the exchange. That being said you can dive year-round, it’s just finding those locations where you can. The visibility is better in the winter because there’s less UV and algae blooming. Most folks plan for fall and spring – generally good dive times where you have enough light to do stuff and decent enough surface temperature to where you are not freezing when you get out of the water, as well.”
To begin diving, customers can purchase an in-store kit provided by Scuba Diving International. After reviewing the course material, students get together at the store for three classroom sessions to discuss the material learned. Next comes five sessions of practicing dive skills at an aquatic center in a pool. Once those skills are mastered, students meet at Keystone Jetty’s underwater park to demonstrate their skills in the ocean.
Jeremy Jones, a member of Washington Divers, dives at Keystone Jetty’s underwater park. Photo courtesy: Washington Divers.
Accomplishment means getting certified as an open water scuba diver up to 60 feet – the first step in a pathway to several different dive training options. With parental permission for minors, students ages 15 and up can become certified. There is a junior option as well for 10 to 14-year old’s. “I have been diving since 15,” Julian shares. “I learned in high school. My parents knew I was interested in marine biology and always loved the water so they got me into it.”
For Julian, love of the water is deep and wide. “My father was in the Navy so I grew up around the water literally everywhere in the world. I lived in Sicily, Italy for three years. I lived in Puerto Rico for three years. I didn’t dive but I was always in the water and I was always snorkeling and free diving. I remember specifically in Puerto Rico I would free dive for conch shells. I loved that. I would do that every day, before and after school.”
In high school Julian learned to dive on Whidbey Island when his father was stationed there. Since learning, Julian has enjoyed teaching, diving commercially and even for a while provided specimen for the Marine Life Center’s display tanks.
Divers conveniently drop off tanks for air fill up at Washington Divers. Photo credit: Theresa Golden.
There are a lot of options for divers and it really depends on the route of dive training each individual wants to pursue. At Washington Divers, Julian has met customers who want to dive for many different reasons whether it’s to see firsthand our areas teeming marine life, take underwater photos, sustainably harvest food or explore within one of the sunken vessels that permanently rests under shore. “Wreck diving is a category within technical diving,” Julian explains. “And that’s just something that a lot of folks, once they get pretty comfortable in their skills, set as a goal – to see an old vessel that’s been sunken, abandoned, left there, mainly for its history appeal. It’s very nostalgic for a lot of people especially ex-military or commercial fishermen. There’s a lot of history to the sunken vessels all around the world. Folks nostalgically utilize their skills to enjoy something underwater.”
Julian also manages the Bellingham Dive Conservancy that meets regularly in the shop. Here, community members get together to learn more about the oceans they dive in. Though anyone can join, much of the education and activities revolve around diving activities and marine biology. “Folks really want to get involved and be a part of their community and do something they can feel proud of and united. Our goal is to give awareness through outreach and education, mainly with the marine impact surveys and beach site clean ups.”
Washington Divers provides a wide range of services for local and commercial divers. Photo credit: Theresa Golden.
Marine impact surveys are one of the contributions conservancy members can join. “Mainly we focus on keystone species in the area that are good indicators of how the entire ecosystems are doing,” Julian explains. “One of the focus kind of organisms that we’ve been looking at over the years are the sea stars including sea star wasting disease or syndrome. It’s been related to rising sea temperatures with an influx of potential toxic algae blooms as well as other cyanobacteria. We can monitor it in certain areas.”
The conservation also participates in beach clean ups that happen above and below the surface. “People will have an opportunity to clean the surface area from anything from plastics to cigarette butts to metal debris, rusty stuff, and divers would have a chance as well. [We] collect, weigh it all and then we submit that to Project Aware. It’s Dive Against Debris and they catalogue it for us.” Each session, the weight gets tallied, providing volunteers with a strong sense of how much waste they have removed and the knowledge that their impact is really accomplishing something.
The building at the corner of 12th and Harris was advertised as the South Side Shopping Tower when it was built in 1929. The historic Fairhaven Pharmacy has now been removed to be refurbished by Signs Plus. Photo courtesy: Signs Plus.
The humble brick building at the corner of 12th and Harris in historic Fairhaven has been many things since it was built in 1929. What started out as a home for Fairhaven Pharmacy, The Strand (which offered everything from dry-goods to menswear), and the Washington Meat Market eventually just housed the pharmacy. When Fairhaven Pharmacy owner George Finnegan passed away in 1939, his former delivery boy Rene LaCasse took over the business.
“In 1962, LaCasse continued the tradition of passing the business down to former delivery boys,” said local historical researcherand tour guide, Kolby Labree. “He sold the pharmacy to Gordon ‘Gordy’ Tweit, who had started working as a delivery boy when he was 15.” Tweit sold the pharmacy to former delivery boy Robin Johansen in 1991, but continued to house his historic collections in the pharmacy’s basement.
The building at the corner of 12th and Harris was advertised as the South Side Shopping Tower when it was built in 1929. The historic Fairhaven Pharmacy has now been removed to be refurbished by Signs Plus. Photo courtesy: Signs Plus.
“The building itself seems pretty non-descript, particularly when contrasted with the grand and ambitious brick buildings from the boom-period of the 1890s,” said LaBree. But she thinks it’s representative of what kind of buildings went up during what she calls Fairhaven’s “tough years.”
“Those big brick buildings from the 1890s never really ended up serving the grand purposes they were envisioned for, and for most of Fairhaven’s history ended up sitting largely neglected, vacant, boarded up, or demolished,” Kolby said.
It was the more practical buildings like the one George Finnegan built at the corner of 12th and Harris that stood the test of time because they were less lavish and more useful. The South Side Shopping Tower wasn’t much of a tower at all in its single-story stature, but what it lacked in height it made up for in humor:
“Being 50 feet high, 50 feet wide and 50 feet deep, if it ever blows over it will still be straight up… It may be interesting to know that the new Community Hotel is to be the highest hotel west of Chicago and that ours is the shortest Shopping Tower south of Alaska. Nearly all of your earthly needs can be supplied within this towering edifice.”
South Side Shopping Tower advertisement, Bellingham Herald, Friday, July 19, 1929
The builders of the South Side Shopping Tower advertised that it was “one story high and three stories high,” with a horned toad being placed on the roof for a “better view of Beautiful Bellingham Bay.”
When the historic Fairhaven Pharmacy closed last October after 126 years, many in the community asked how they could help preserve the iconic feel of the historic building. Co-owner and Founder of Signs Plus, Jim Sutterfield, reached out to the new tenants to make sure the neon Fairhaven Pharmacy sign lived on in some fashion.
“You see a lot of these classic, iconic signs that get taken down and destroyed,” said Sutterfield. “I have a passion to see those things restored and maintained.”
Sutterfield started Signs Plus in 1992 after his service in the Marine Corps. His family had moved to Bellingham, and he started working at the window tinting shop his father had recently opened on State Street where a sign shop had just closed.
His fine art experience was a perfect match for sign making in the days before digital renderings.
“The digital age has allowed a lot of people to enter into the industry who aren’t trained designers, so the quality of design has deteriorated a bit,” said Sutterfield. Until the mid-90s, hand lettered and crafted signs were the norm, which required a fair amount of training and artistic skill. “For me, signs are both art and advertising. We love making impressionable signs, and many historic signs were very impressionable.”
“We would always go to the Pharmacy on Halloween to have our pictures taken by Gordy in our gothic costume concoctions,” said historian and researcher Kolby LaBree. “Gordy’s Halloween picture tradition began in the mid-1960s and ran through a few years ago.” Photo credit: Andrea Holodnick.
With a 20,000+ square foot facility and 28 full-time employees, Signs Plus is one of the largest sign companies in the state, with projects ranging from sandwich boards and vehicle wraps, to custom electric signs for grocery stores and banks.
“Our strength is our ability to service not only the small business owner’s needs, but also the needs of large regional and national clientele,” said Sutterfield. “Our roots are in well designed signs, quality craftsmanship, and exceeding the customers expectations. Still today we love doing the small jobs just as much as the big ones.”
Current and Furbish is the newest retail inhabitant of George Finnegan’s “tower” at the corner of 12th and Harris. They just celebrated their grand opening in late August after moving their business to the Historic Fairhaven District from Seattle, and Sutterfield said that they––along with many other community stakeholders—were interested in maintaining the integrity of the iconic Fairhaven Pharmacy sign.
“The city was enthusiastic about maintaining the historic feel of the sign, and so were the new building owners. Bill Miller with the Historic Fairhaven Association donated $1,800 to the cause and Signs Plus matched that. It’s been a real group effort.”
The new Fairhaven Pharmacy sign will now read “Fairhaven Historic Village,” but it will maintain the integrity of the iconic beacon at the corner of 12th and Harris.
Mixing the old with the new: Signs Plus removed the old Fairhaven Pharmacy sign to refurbish it now that the building has new occupants. Photo courtesy: Signs Plus.
“We’re restoring it back to the original hand painting, with as close as we can get to the original colors of neon,” said Sutterfield, who has the unique opportunity to be a steward of historic relics while still looking to the future. “It’s important to maintain our history, but we have to be progressive as things change.”
The refurbished Fairhaven Historic Village sign is expected to be finished by the end of October. Keep up with their progress on this and many other fun projects by following Signs Plus on Facebook and Twitter.
Bellingham Blazers junior ice hockey team compete at Bellingham Sportsplex. Photo credit: Joe Bergman Photography.
What do soccer fans, hockey skaters, and birthday party-goers have in common? They all love Bellingham Sportsplex.
Originally opened in 1997, Bellingham Sportsplex is a multipurpose recreation facility, providing year-round access to an indoor ice arena and soccer fields. Sportsplex is the go-to hub for ice and turf sports (and sports-themed birthday parties) in our community. It provides a centralized venue for a variety of programs, activities, and events — all managed by the non-profit organization Whatcom Sports and Recreation.
Bellingham Sportsplex General Manager, Marc Ronney, has been involved with the facility since 1999. Though his roles have changed over the years, Marc’s passion remains the same. “What I enjoy the most is working with the youth of Whatcom County – both as a coach and as the GM of the Sportsplex,” Marc says.
Learn to Skate participants are taught ice skating on Bellingham Sportsplex’s NHL size arena. Photo courtesy: Bellingham Sportsplex.
Today, Marc is responsible for scheduling a mind-boggling variety of happenings at Sportsplex. As Marc explains, “The biggest thing we do is rental of our facility to user groups. We have several minor hockey organizations that use the ice rink, and we rent out the soccer and ice side to schools and other groups throughout the year.”
But groups are just the tip of the iceberg at Bellingham Sportsplex. Here’s a taste of the venue’s many offerings, from recreational programs to birthday parties and a beer festival.
Academies
Kids and adults alike can get involved in the venue’s Learn to Play Academies. These fun, educational classes teach skills from ice skating and hockey to soccer. Participants can drop in for a single class before committing to an entire multi-week course. See the Sportsplex website for more info.
Drop In Soccer and Hockey
Speaking of drop-ins, Sportsplex offers drop in soccer, drop in hockey and drop in/stick ‘n puck hockey as well. These sessions differ from academies in that they are all about play and practice. Each session lasts one to two hours, and players simply drop in for the session that works best with their schedule. Stick ‘N Puck sessions are open times to practice hockey skills, while drop in hockey and soccer are informal scrimmage games.
Public Ice Skating
Bellingham Sportsplex provides two turf fields for indoor soccer. Photo credit: Bellingham Sportsplex.
Don’t want to compete? Public skating is available for all ages. You can participate for as little as $2.50 per person during Community Skate, plus the cost of skate rentals if needed. Public ice skating times vary by week — check the public ice skating schedule for details.
Leagues
Soccer and hockey leagues run at Bellingham Sportsplex as well. For soccer, youth leagues and adult leagues are offered, allowing participation for all ages. The Sportsplex Hockey League (SHL) is an adults-only league for players of all abilities. Divided into four divisions, the season runs September through March with 24 regular season games. See the Bellingham Sportsplex website for complete league details, including fees and registration.
Bellingham Blazers Junior Hockey
As if academies, leagues, and public sessions weren’t enough, Sportsplex also hosts the Bellingham Blazers Junior Hockey team for home games. “The Blazers have moved up a level and are playing in a new league,” Marc says. This year, the team joins the Western States Hockey League. Their 2016-2017 season kicks off October 2, with a home opener against the Seattle Totems. Bellingham Blazers will play 23 home games at Bellingham Sportsplex during the season. Check the Bellingham Blazers website or Facebook page for updates.
Hoptoberfest
Bellingham Blazers junior ice hockey team compete at Bellingham Sportsplex. Photo credit: Joe Bergman Photography.
Also coming up in October is a very Bellingham-friendly fundraiser: a beer festival dubbed “Hoptoberfest”. This event will benefit ReBound of Whatcom County, the Boys & Girls Club of Whatcom County, and Whatcom Sports and Recreation. The event will be held at Sportsplex on October 22, and promises “a fantastic beer tasting and beer judging experience.” Food trucks, live music, yard games and beer awards will keep the party alive.
Bellingham United
The reigning Western Indoor Soccer League champions play at the Sportsplex starting in November. Bellingham United indoor soccer is fast paced and high energy. It’s a sure crowd pleaser for your family.
Birthday Parties
All-ages birthday parties are held at Sportsplex, with several different packages available. “We offer skating, bouncy house, Bubble Soccer or any activity you would like to do on one of our two turf fields,” Marc explains. According to the website, basic packages include “a cake & beverages with upgrades available to provide Little Caesar’s pizza, Menchies frozen yogurt or Port of Subs sub sandwiches.” For additional info and reservations, check out the birthday parties page.
With its incredible variety of programming, Bellingham Sportsplex draws nearly 600,000 users through its doors every year. Perhaps this year, you’ll be one of them! “If you haven’t been to the Sportsplex you should check it out,” Marc says. “Stop by and see all the fun our customers are having.”
Darby Cowles says that a healthy city is infused with art and unexpected surprises. Photo credit: Patricia Herlevi.
Often we take urban design for granted. Policies, codes, and zoning as well as public input create the streets, avenues, and buildings that make up our unique cities. In the case of Bellingham, Railroad Avenue wasn’t always a quaint row of eateries. And Old Fairhaven was once a hippie playground of crumbling brick buildings. And as I write this article, Bellingham remains under transformation around downtown, the port, and the Aloha Motel site, just to name a few projects.
City planners are often passionate organizers and arrangers of towns and cities. The City of Bellingham planners address safety, the environment (not just how we work and live in it), retaining the historic character, and transportation (how we get to and from work or play).
Darby Cowles says a healthy city is infused with art and unexpected surprises. Photo credit: Patricia Herlevi.
Meet Darby Cowles, a Senior City Planner with the City of Bellingham. She graduated with a B.A. from Huxley College (Western Washington University). And while she says that she doesn’t have any particular project to mention, she has played a role in the larger picture of Bellingham’s urban design.
Like many community-oriented people, Darby discovered city planning while she reviewed her career options. “I’d graduated from Western with a degree in Environmental Policy and was working as a bartender at the Longhorn Saloon in Edison, trying to figure out what to do next. I bought a book. It was called something like Environmental Careers for the 21st Century. One of the sections focused on a day in the life of an urban planner. My heart was racing as I realized there was a field where the disciplines of science, politics, policy, sociology, health, facilitation, economics and others converged.”
Fueled by her inspiration, she volunteered with the Whatcom County Planning Department in 2002. And since that time, she has risen to the senior level with the Planning and Community Development Department. She has been instrumental in encouraging the public to get involved with the redevelopment of downtown in particular. “One thing that’s the most interesting to me as a planner is our responsibility to balance the public interest with the rights and desires of the individual. It can be challenging, and also extremely rewarding, to find that common ground,” says Darby.
The urban village Fairhaven is a good example of community redevelopment. Photo credit: Patricia Herlevi.
She encourages public input with the redevelopment of the Aloha Motel site, a once controversial area of town that garnered articles in the Bellingham Herald for several years. When the city demolished the motel, many people saw this as a victory, especially for the development of the Samish Urban Village.
“The City issued a Request for Proposals last year and, with City Council approval, entered into negotiations with the Bellingham Housing Authority to sell the property for redevelopment into a mixed-use, multi-story anchor project. There was a public notice and hearing and presentations to several neighborhood associations, but the community will really be asked to engage in the details once the design review process is underway.”
As Darby and I toured downtown, we discussed the myriad of ways city planners impact the way we use a city block or even a particular area of town. Darby mentioned that she would like to see a retail district that would congregate stores in one easily accessible area.
Senior City Planner for the City of Bellingham, Darby Cowles tours the Art District.
When we ventured on Railroad Avenue passing by the popular eateries and then onto Holly Street heading north, Darby mentioned improvements made to a once seedy section of town. We passed by the Pickford Film Center where Darby posed near public art. And then we wandered through the arts district which also includes The Whatcom Museum, Lightcatcher, Make.Shift and a new art space (old laundry building), opening on Prospect Street next door to Sculpture Northwest.
I ask Darby what makes a healthy community. Darby responds, “I envision a place where there are opportunities for everyone to make some sort of livelihood in whatever way is most fulfilling for them; and a place with numerous opportunities for informal gatherings and ways to connect in a positive way with strangers and friends of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities. And a place where the choice to travel by foot, chair, bicycle or bus is supported and made simple; a place infused with art and unsuspected exposure to all kinds of musical and cultural surprises, where fresh healthy food and clean water is available to everyone.”
And when asked what makes a city sustainable, Darby responds, “I think the UN was on the right track with the idea of providing for the needs of the present without impacting the ability of future generations to meet their needs. And, to me, that means future generations of all living beings, not just humans.”
Needing a document notarized is a situation that can come up urgently, and knowing where to get a document notarized can be a bit tricky. Sehome UPS Store Manager Bobbi Gainer has seen an upswing of Bellingham customers seeking notary services because their bank or title company no longer provides the service.
Documents needing a notary stamp can vary widely. A common use is real estate documents, which need to be notarized during the buying and selling of properties as well as for refinancing mortgages. Visa and passport applications also need to be notarized. Power of attorney is an important document to have notarized before a patient undergoes a surgery. Equally as important are letters of permission.
UPS Store Manager Bobbi Gainer keeps up to date on notary laws to ensure her staff can best help and educate customers.
“During the summertime, we get a lot of parents that let kids travel with their grandparents across the borders, so the parents have to write a letter of permission, and we can notarize those,” Bobbi shares. “We have parents bringing in letters of permission when the children go to camp. If the child needs medical attention while away at camp, having these documents notarized provides a valuable legal document for any doctors requiring parental approval before providing care.”
Becoming a Notary Public is a fairly simple process. The applicant fills out a form that is publicly witnessed by three non-family members and notarized. Then a check is sent in to the city along with the application and proof of bonded insurance. Once approved, the new Notary Public obtains an individual stamp with which to notarize documents. The act of notarizing is really the verification of individuals on a document — that the individual being referred to is who they say they are. For this, each person on the document needs to be present with their photo ID to verify their identity.
“We’ve had some instances where the student has had the car in Bellingham and mom is in another state. They’ve wrecked the car. They need to file an insurance claim and the parents tell the student to come in and say, ‘Get this notarized.’ But, the student is not the owner of the car and I need mom here in front of me,” Bobbi shares. “A lot of people don’t realize that I have to have the person in front of me.” Once that person on the document is present and verified, the document is signed and the Notary Public can then stamp the document.
Notary services are available all hours of operation at Bellingham UPS Stores. For best service on weekends, it’s good to call ahead and reserve a time slot.
While it may be simple to become a Notary Public, it is important to be up to date on any laws that can change as well as knowing which forms can and cannot be notarized. This is where the staff members at the UPS Store really excel. Managers attend seminars and share information learned to keep everyone up to date on any changes to the notary service. Having this knowledge, staff members can educate customers on how documents need to be prepped to ensure they will be properly notarized and therefore legally accepted.
For example, one of the recent changes to notary law has to do with added text that now needs to be at the bottom of forms. “They’ve changed the rules a little bit to where what we call the notary language needs to be on the bottom of the page. I’m not allowed to provide that anymore,” Bobbi explains. “It has to be on the document now and the document has to be prefilled out when they come in, but not signed.” To find the required text, customers can either go online and find what is called a notarial certificate or Bobbi can give customers an example so that they can type it up or handwrite it themselves.
UPS Stores are the one stop shop for getting your document notarized, photocopied and shipped out next day.
Another area that has recently changed is I-9 forms. “They have changed the rules on I-9 forms. For people who are getting jobs online with employers that are back east, we don’t stamp those because there’s no place for a stamp,” Bobbi shares. “Unless that employer provides us with a letter saying, ‘Yes I need you to do this. You are acting in my stead,’ then we can do it, but until then, no.”
One of the great things about going to the UPS Store for notary services is that each of the employees has the ability to provide the service. During the week days it’s easy to drop in and any staff member will be able to help. Weekends can be a bit busier, so it’s best to call ahead to reserve a time slot. This makes the process easy and convenient to get your document notarized with efficiency.
In addition to notarizing documents, the UPS Store is unique in that newly notarized documents can also be photocopied on site and shipped out as well, saving precious time.
Currently at the UPS Store, customers who drop off packages can receive a coupon for $1 off notary services. The local UPS Stores are conveniently located at Sehome Village and on Meridian Street.
Notary services can be as quick as 5-10 minutes at Bellingham UPS Stores.
Sustainable Connections is excited to announce the September Eat Local Month Challenge, and invites all Whatcom County residents to commit to eating local meals in the month of September. The Eat Local Month Challenge comes with a free all-local meal plan and makes eating local easy!
Those who would like to enjoy the bounty of Whatcom County’s harvest can pledge to make local meals in a way that work best for them. Individuals can choose one of three challenge levels, from introductory to expert, and commit to make just one all local meal or many. Everyone who takes the pledge can also download a free all local meal plan created by Sustainable Connections, with a week’s worth of recipes and a meal calendar. There are a number of delicious dishes to try, from smashed potato salad with chorizo and aioli to garlicky kale soup. Included in the meal plan is also a shopping list, money saving tips for those on a budget, and suggestions for where to purchase local ingredients. Individuals and families are encouraged to share pictures of their all local culinary adventure on the Eat Local First Facebook page and the Eat Local First Instagram, #eatlocalfirst.
“Our community around local food doesn’t happen on accident,” says Sara Southerland, Food & Farming Program Manager at Sustainable Connections. “We create it each time we choose what’s for dinner, what restaurant we choose to support, and what kinds of ingredients we purchase at the grocery store.”
Eat Local Month aims to make eating local easy and healthy fun. With a cornucopia of delicious events and handy resources, anyone and everyone is invited to participate, and can take the Eat Local Month Challenge online at Eatlocalfirst.org. For a full directory of where to find local foods and farms, pick up a copy of the Whatcom Food & Farm Finder, also available online at EatLocalFirst.org.
