Peoples Bank launched “Pigs in Pictures” today as an updated take on its annual piggy bank treasure hunt. Nearly 500 pigs, each containing $20.00, will be hidden throughout the bank’s footprint in Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, Chelan, Island, and King Counties from July 18 to August 1. People who find the pigs are encouraged to spend the money at their favorite local business. Uploading a picture with the pig at www.peoplesbank-wa.com/pigs also earns finders a chance to win a $1,000 grand prize.
Most pigs will be hidden within a one-mile radius of Peoples Bank’s 23 branch locations. New this year, real-time clues about the location of the hidden pigs will be provided throughout the two-week promotion from Peoples Bank’s Twitter account,@peoplesbank_wa.
“Our ‘Pigs in Pictures’ promotion is a fun and engaging way to spread financial awareness while encouraging people to explore their local communities and support their amazing local businesses,” said Kamyar Monsef, Chief Retail Banking Officer at Peoples Bank. “We hope people who find a pig will use the cash to support their favorite local business or discover a new one.”
With nearly 500 chances to win, the promotion aims to bring local communities together, especially as people and businesses continue to recover from the pandemic.
According to the Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS), small businesses still face a difficult recovery, with nearly 80% of small businesses reporting continued negative effects and 63% reporting a reduction in revenue compared to 2019.
About Peoples Bank
Peoples Bank is a locally owned and operated, independent full-service community bank with $2.8 billion in assets. Headquartered in Bellingham, Washington, Peoples Bank has been serving the community for 100 years and operates 25 locations throughout Washington. Reflecting its strong financial management practices, dedicated employees, and long-standing customer relationships, Peoples Bank was awarded a superior five-star rating from BauerFinancial, a leading independent bank rating firm. Learn more about Peoples Bank at www.peoplesbank-wa.com. Member FDIC.
Creating a healthy workplace environment
doesn’t happen overnight. Heritage
Bank has been around since 1927 and has since accumulated almost 800
employees. Mike Nelson, the director of talent and development at Heritage
Bank, knows a thing or two about creating a happy and healthy workplace. Here
are his five ways to create a healthy workplace environment.
Recognition
and Appreciation
It’s no secret that affirmations, recognition
and appreciation go hand in hand with a healthy business and workplace
environment. At Heritage Bank, they’ve implemented a few unique things to help
their staff feel the love.
An online recognition portal allows employees to get acknowledged on anniversary milestones or even for help on a project or assignment. In addition, employees can easily send eCards to one another to add some brightness to their busy work days.
The staff at Heritage Bank work together both in and out of the office, supporting their community through volunteer days, like Day of Caring. Photo courtesy Heritage Bank
On Heritage Bank’s quarterly All Banker Calls,
they take the time to give their employees thanks for their hard work. They
also make time for staff members to share their experiences and success
stories.
During Banker Appreciation, employees hop on a
10- to 15-minute call to engage in team-building exercises. They even play
games, such as bingo, where staff can win exciting prizes, like a $500 gift
card, Mariners tickets, days off and more.
More recently, the bank has also implemented
quarterly No Meetings Week. No Meetings Week is, you guessed it, a week of
absolutely no meetings. Throughout the week, employees are encouraged to get
themselves organized and focus on their work tasks, free of distraction.
Teamwork
and Connection
At Heritage Bank, employees are treated like
family. They are encouraged to build thoughtful relationships and work as a
team.
For up to one full eight-hour work day, the
bank will pay for their employees to get involved with their communities and participate in community service.
They’ll even help their employees find an organization that feels like a good
fit.
Mike Nelson, director of talent and development, has worked at Heritage Bank for over 4 years. Photo courtesy Heritage Bank
Soon, the bank will invite employees to attend
a Heritage Bank Volunteer Day so they can spend time helping various
organizations and nonprofit throughout our communities clean up parks, collect
and pack food, paint houses and more.
Once a month, the bank’s online publication,
Banker Bulletin, is sent out to all employees. These monthly newsletters allow
staff to stay updated about what’s happening around the office and within the
company. It informs staff about new hires, milestone anniversaries, promotions,
bank operations and upcoming trainings.
Career
Development and Upward Mobility
Flexibility to move onward and upward keeps
employee retention and engagement high in the workplace.
Nelson stressed that Heritage Bank always
wants its employees to know that where they start isn’t where they need to be
in the future. “There are other areas of banking that are outside of the
regular traditional branch banking and customer service,” explains Nelson. “You
have areas like human resources, marketing, IT. We want them to be engaged in
their career. To move into different areas of the bank and to allow us to help
them get there.”
Communication
and Feedback
Part of Heritage Bank’s mission is to continuously improve, which couldn’t be more
in line with how they cultivate a healthy workplace environment. “We may be
doing something one way today, and it might be great, but we always have in
mind how can we continually improve,” Nelson notes.
The staff at Heritage Bank work together both in and out of the office, supporting their community through volunteer days, like Day of Caring. Photo courtesy Heritage Bank
This type of constant growth and adaptation is
what makes the environment at Heritage Bank so unique. They continually ask
themselves: What could we do better? How can we adjust to make our business a
better place for our customers and employees?
In addition to living out their mission
statement daily, they also send employees a survey each year asking about the
culture. The survey asks employees a range of questions, from how Heritage Bank
is doing as a company to what areas of the business could they feel could be
adjusted.
Leadership
and Support
Heritage Bank emphasizes the importance of
welcoming nurturing and non-threatening conversations between colleagues and
higher-ups to provide the necessary leadership support.
To achieve this, employees use a rating system
to evaluate how they feel they are doing on a task or project. That way, if
they are struggling, they can get more support, and if they feel confident,
they can avoid being micromanaged.
In addition, one-on-one interviews and
meetings with higher-ups help employees at Heritage Bank feel supported on a
personal level. These consistent check ins allow employees to stay on track of
their one-, three- or five-year plans and goals.
Heritage Bank is doing its due diligence to help create a professional and healthy workplace for their employees. To learn more, visit the Heritage Bank website, follow them on Facebook or call 800.455.6126.
Imagine the farmers market in this lovely location! Photo courtesy: Samson Estates Winery
Samson Estates Winery is offering summer fun right here in
Whatcom County. This family-owned winery grew out of a passion for doing more
with the berries the family was already growing. Located on farmland in the
Nooksack Valley, the winery has seen success over the years, creating
award-winning wines since 2002. Featuring both berry and grape varieties, its
dessert wines are popular amongst regulars.
In addition to competing in wine competitions all over the
country and selling its wine both from its website, www.samsonestates.com, and in
stores, the Samson Estates Winery team has created a place where people can
have a good time.
From relaxing on the patio amongst the berry fields to rocking
out on the lawn during one of its concerts, Samson Estates Winery offers a
variety of fun. Open Wednesdays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., one can
stop in to sample their wines. There’s also still time to check out their
summer concert series, with three remaining shows on this season’s schedule.
On July 17th, Baby Cakes will perform from 2 to 4 p.m. in the
pavilion. This 10-piece band — a Whatcom County favorite — has been
entertaining local music-loving crowds since 2014. Based out of Bellingham, the
band treats fans to the sounds of American Soul, funk, and R&B. More
information on Baby Cakes can be found here, and
tickets for this concert are available here.
Bellingham-based Baby Cakes plays soul, funk, and R&B. Photo courtesy Samson Estates Winery
This show will be followed up the following week by Fossil Rock,
who perform on July 23rd from noon to 4 p.m.. This local band — whose logo
features a Tyrannosaurs Rex playing an electric guitar — has been rocking out
from Kelowna B.C. to Las Vegas for more than 21 years. Stop into Samson
Estate’s Winery to hear them play rock and roll from the 1950s and ’60s.
Tickets for this concert can be purchased here.
The final concert of the summer, on August 13th, features singer/songwriter Joe Harkness, who will play country music. Harkness is a talented Whatcom County local who graduated from Mount Baker High School. This is your chance to catch him locally before he makes a move to Nashville, Tennessee. Tickets for this concert can be purchased here.
Everson’s Joe Harkness plays classic country. Photo courtesy Samson Estates Winery
All concerts are $5 per person, and while seating is limited in the
pavilion, there’s always plenty of room on the lawn, so feel free to bring your
lawn chairs or blankets and spread out with friends and family.
On August 13th, food truck WTF – Where’s The Food will be there
to provide a variety of options ranging from seafood to burgers. Feel free to
bring your own food to the other concerts. They ask that folks not bring in outside
drinks, as Samson Estate Winery wines are available for sale in addition to
beers, seltzers, and ciders.
If you’re unable to make it out to one of this season’s
remaining concerts but still want to party at this beautiful location, the
pavilion can be rented for your own event. You can reserve your date here or
by contacting Samson Estates Winery directly at info@samsonestates.com or
by calling 360-966-7787 ext. 2.
Samson Estates Winery is located at 1861 Van Dyk Road in Everson.
7 Elements massage therapist Lauren Corriell has special training in Lomilomi, a traditional Hawaiian form of massage. Photo courtesy 7 Elements Wellness Spa
The origins of traditional Hawaiian massage are rooted in the ancient chapters of the islands’ Indigenous peoples. But thanks to 7 Elements Wellness Spa, “lomi lomi” — the phrase used to identify this increasingly popular style of massage blending body and spirit work — is now offered right here in Whatcom County.
The word itself, “lomi,” is defined in
the Hawaiian language as to rub, press, squeeze, knead, or massage, among other
verbs. In more particular terms, “lomi” is “to work in and out, (like) claws of
a contented cat.”
The massage — which features slow, soothing massage strokes
up and down a person’s entire body, as if to mimic gentle ocean waves — is
based on traditional Hawaiian healing arts and religion, says 7 Elements
Operations Manager Emma Winningham.
7 Elements’ massage rooms are quiet, private, and relaxing. Photo courtesy 7 Elements Wellness Spa
“It’s a holistic approach to massage,” she says. “It
combines relaxing, fluid movements and deep, focused work, while also asking
the spirits guide in healing.”
Lomilomi massage was actually banned or regulated in Hawaii
for periods of time.
According to R. Makana Risser Chai’s 2005 book, “Na
Mo’olelo Lomilomi: Traditions of Hawaiian Massage and Healing,” the arrival of
American missionaries in the 1820s led to the prohibition of native Hawaiian healing
practices as medicine. In 1886, the Hawaiian Kingdom’s legislature banned
curing through indigenous methods, but Lomilomi as just massage was generally
allowed and practiced.
In 1947, the territory’s board of massage began regulating Lomilomi.
Practitioners were required to pass written tests, and many native healers
either wouldn’t or couldn’t do so. It wasn’t until 2001 that the state’s
legislature legally allowed native practitioners to be medically certified to
practice Lomilomi without fear of violating any laws.
Lomilomi encompasses the relaxation and healing of both body and spirit, and consists of long, flowing massage strokes up and down the entire body. Photo courtesy 7 Elements Wellness Spa
At 7 Elements, massage therapist Lauren has plenty of training and experience in the massage style: she was trained by two therapists who were themselves trained by the first native Hawaiian to professionally train non-natives in Lomilomi.
has plenty of training and experience in the massage style: she was trained by two therapists who were themselves trained by the first native Hawaiian to professionally train non-natives in Lomilomi.
“Everyone who’s come out has said it was really great,”
says Winningham, “and that Lauren did a great job.”
When someone enters 7 Elements for a Lomilomi session, they
begin with a short period of intention-setting and reflection. The spiritual
component of the practice allows someone to ask themselves why they’re getting
the massage and what they hope to gain from it.
The wellness spa’s waiting room is well-known for the relaxing ambiance of its Himalayan salt wall. Photo courtesy 7 Elements Wellness Spa
One of the core concepts of Lomilomi, Winningham says, is
that memories are held in our bones. As such, different parts of the body can
represent different aspects or relationships in our lives.
It’s also important to know that Lomilomi patrons are traditionally unclothed, save for covering of private areas. In the interest of whatever’s most comfortable for a 7 Elements customer, however, Lauren can work around whatever amount of clothing is desired for the massage.
7 Elements massage therapist Lauren has special training in Lomilomi, a traditional Hawaiian form of massage. Photo courtesy 7 Elements Wellness Spa
Available to be scheduled on Thursdays through Saturdays
from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Lomilomi sessions are offered at 60-, 90- and
120-minute durations. The latter time period is unique to lomi lomi and not
available for other forms of massage, which include Swedish, hot stone, and
deep tissue.
If the nurturing and loving touch of Hawaiian massage is
calling out to your body and soul, consider scheduling a Lomilomi
session today.
Aloha!
7 Elements Wellness Spa is located at 7714 Birch Bay Drive, Suite #1, in Birch Bay, and 7 Elements Physical Therapy is located at 8097 Harborview Road, Suite B, in Birch Bay.
Nish Romero in an outrigger canoe race with his paddle resting over his lap. Photo courtesy Nish Romero
Often the things we don’t choose for ourselves end up having the
most significant impact on our life. We are exposed to something and from that
moment on our world is changed; it’s hard to imagine what it was like before.
For Nish Romero, this thing was war canoe racing, and it was his
mom — who also paddles — that first got him on the water at eight years old.
“My Mom just said, ‘Hey, your cousins are paddling; come on, you’re going to
paddle,’” Nish recalls.
He has been paddling ever since, competing in races with
the Rikkole Cree Canoe Club.
He began with traditional war canoe racing, in canoes of either six or 11
people. In recent years, Nish also started dabbling in outrigger racing,
competing in singles and doubles with his partner Joe Rodriguez. “We compete
against teams from all over the place like Hawaii and New Zealand,” says Nish. “There’s
a lot of really talented paddlers from all over the world.”
Nish Romero carries an outrigger canoe and one of his custom paddles. Photo courtesy Nish Romero
What began as something he did because he was told to developed
into a passion. By the time Nish was in his mid-teens, he and his cousins were
performing well in races, even traveling to Hawaii to compete, where they saw
success. Through greater exposure to other cultures’ paddling, he became more
enthralled with the sport and the paddles themselves. He knew he wanted to
build a life around paddling.
Nish was also in his teens when Peter Seymour, from Vancouver
Island, showed him how to build a traditional war canoe paddle. That experience
stuck with him; he enjoyed the crafting of the paddle and the connection it gave
him with the sport on a larger scale. He held on to that desire to create
paddles, a desire that has now come to fruition.
A paddle mid-build lies on Nish’s workbench. Photo courtesy Nish Romero
Nish was building paddles for fun and people were asking to buy
them. With demand growing, he decided to quit his job and start Salish Va’a,
his own paddle company. The name has a deep meaning for him and a built-in
purpose.
“The name is a mix of Coast Salish and Va’a, which is Polynesian
for canoe, and canoe team,” says Nish. “The idea of the name came from the idea
of opening our eyes and minds to the different paddling worlds. We’re one way
or another all connected and, for the most part, we’re all connected by the
water.”
The Salish Va’a logo carries deep meaning and purpose for the business.
While his business is still in its infancy, that’s not stopping Nish
from setting big goals. He hopes to build a brand that can bring exposure to
the talented paddlers that aren’t currently being seen. There are Coast Salish
paddlers going unnoticed because it’s expensive to travel to races, which take
place all over the world. Nish knows that if, through his own success, he can
sponsor these individuals, it will help grow the sport he loves.
Now in his early 20s, Nish competes weekly in local races where
he puts his paddles to work. A good day is when he has to use a paddle he didn’t
make — because he sells out before his race starts.
Photo courtesy Nish Romero
“The orders have started flowing in,” Nish says. “There have
been some races where I had to sell my personal paddle right there and then,
and then I didn’t have a paddle for the race, so I just had to use whatever was
around.
While he loves racing, making paddles has given Nish a
connection to the sport where he feels he can have a larger impact. He’s excited
for the day when he looks up in a race and sees he’s being beaten by one of his
creations.
The blade of a Salish Va’a cane paddle with the fiberglass coating. Photo courtesy Nish Romero
Nish builds all his paddles by hand out of red and yellow cedar.
He crafts traditional war canoe paddles straight blade and steering blade. He
also makes single and double bend paddles for outrigger racing. He adds a layer
of fiberglass to the front and back of the blades for strength and durability.
When he can keep them in stock, he has a variety of styles and
sizes on hand for sale. He also makes custom paddles. Experienced paddlers can
give him the specifications they want for length and blade size. For those
newer to paddling, he can guide them to ensure a proper fit based on size,
experience, and type of paddling.
If you don’t happen to buy a paddle from Nish right before a
race begins, you can always order one by contacting him through Facebook or Instagram.
After 50 years of providing
services like heating, cooling, electrical, and plumbing, the Barron team is dedicated to
keeping the most important home systems working at their best. But accidents
happen, and Barron’s experts often meet customers for the first time in the
middle of an emergency — whether it’s from a broken part, leaking pipe, or
backed up drain. Fortunately, the team has helpful ideas for avoiding these
emergencies in the first place, allowing them to meet their neighbors before
these problems arise.
Most of these tips express the
importance of making sure that drains — all the pipes inside the home, and
sewers, everything outside — are being kept clean and clear.
It’s important to admit when a problem is too big for an easy repair — and that’s when you can call Barron for assistance. Photo courtesy Barron Heating
“Most people don’t do routine
maintenance — it’s either working or it’s not,” says Jordan F., service and operations
manager for Barron’s plumbing division. “A lot of people take it for granted:
you turn on the water, and then it goes away. But when it does back up, that’s
when the frantic phone calls come in, and we’re scrambling to get somebody out
there.”
While it might be easy to
start with fix-it-yourself methods, it’s also important to admit when a problem
is too big for an easy repair. “One thing we like to say is, don’t just sit
there and dump chemicals down the drain thinking it’s going to help,” Jordan
says. “In fact, it can make it much, much worse on older drains; you could wind
up looking at a large repair, instead of just a cleaning.”
Jordan also advises home
buyers perform a camera inspection of drains and sewers to help them avoid
expensive surprises. “We come run the camera down the drain, then send a video
of what that looks like and talk them through what’s going on,” he says. “Many
times, I’ve had to show up to a house the day people are moving in and the next
thing they know, they’re putting $15,000 or $20,000 into a new sewer system.”
An inspection is an equally
powerful tool for anyone selling a home since it can give potential buyers a
sense of confidence. “I recently sold my house and sent a camera down the drain
before I put it on the market,” Jordan says. “When people came to look at my
house, they could see they didn’t have to worry about the sewer, which is a
huge expense. When it comes to homes, sewers and roofs are the biggest expenses.”
A borescope inspection camera is used to check a drain. Photo courtesy Barron Heating
In addition to tree roots,
blockages, and broken pipes, camera inspections also tend to turn up things you
might not expect. “We’ve seen all sorts of foreign objects,” says Nick S., service
superintendent for Barron Plumbing.
“There have been animals, watches, cell phones — you never really know what you’ll
run into.”
And Jordan agrees; “The
funniest thing I ever found in a drain was a whole unpeeled banana,” he says. “I
have no idea how it got down there.”
Nick also shares this practical
tip with potential customers: “Garbage disposals are not ‘dispose-of-alls.’
There are a lot of things that you shouldn’t be putting down there, like
eggshells and coffee grounds, or pasta and rice, because they like to expand; any
fibrous material,” he says. “A lot of people put lemon peels down there because
it gets rid of the garbage smell. But lemon juice will do the same thing, and
it won’t ruin your garbage disposal.”
When it comes to keeping
plumbing healthy, Barron carries a number of products a homeowner can use with
confidence, knowing they won’t inadvertently cause harm further down the road. “For
branch drains, like a kitchen sink, we have products that are environmentally
safe and won’t damage the drain,” says Jordan. “After we come out and clear a drain,
there are enzymes you can use as a weekly thing for the first month, and then
just once a month.”
And because maintenance can’t
prevent or avoid every problem, Barron is also prepared to fix or
replace any piece of plumbing in the home and on the property, all the way out
to the city-owned utilities. They can excavate old lines and replace them with
new ones, and also use newer solutions that can repair some problems without
tearing up the front yard.
To build a partnership with customers and help them stay on top of their plumbing situation, Barron offers a Silver Shield Membership. “That gets you 20% off of drain or sewer cleaning,” says Jordan. “And if you need us, getting to you is going to be our priority — you get a discounted rate, and you get some peace of mind as well.”
Tapioca pearls and Bursting Boba are all that remain at the bottom of my Bellis Boba beverage. Photo credit: Marla Bronstein
Recently, two friends, independent of each other, informed me they had never had bubble tea. I don’t drink it often but do enjoy it occasionally. I began my personal quest to identify all the places you can get bubble tea in Bellingham under the guise of introducing the beverage to first-timers. In the course of writing this article I discovered at least nine places in Bellingham that prepare and serve this delicious treat. Let’s cut to the chase — they were all delicious. Following are my experiences at a few of them.
If you’re unfamiliar, bubble tea is a tea-based drink created in Taiwan in the early 1980s. It often includes boba or tapioca pearls in the bottom of the glass, which are slurped up through an oversized straw. Many people use the terms “bubble tea” and “boba” interchangeably, referring to the same drink.
Usually served cold, it can also be enjoyed in a warm tea. Bubble tea is a sweet beverage made with a base of either milk, dairy-free milk alternative, or fruit, and is usually served with a generous portion of tapioca pearls, which look like black bubbles. There are created to contrast with the color of the tea. (Some stores charge an additional fee to add the pearls.)
The chewy pearls are made from tapioca starch. They are small and unflavored, mixed, rolled, and then cooked separately from the tea. Most of the stores get their pearls pre-rolled and cook a “fresh” batch every few hours in a brown sugary syrup. If you are a do-it-yourself kind of person, I found this video detailing how to make boba.
An added bonus? Since no gelatin is used in the process of making the pearls, they are vegan. Some people describe the texture of the pearls as resembling jelly and gummy bears. There are personal preferences for the prepared pearls; some people like them firm, others chewy or soft. (I lean more towards sweetened, with chewy texture.) Other options to add to the boba tea include bursting boba, which is a fruit juice-filled gelatin ball, and fruit flavored jellies.
The cost of prepared bubble tea varies from store to store. Some include boba pearls in the base price, others charge extra. Every vendor I visited charged extra for jellies, additional tea flavors, and fruit. I paid as little as $6 and as much as $11 for a green tea boba with milk and pearls from the different vendors. Typically, the more expensive places had a base charge for the milk/blended fruit concoction, and then tacked on additional costs for everything, including dairy alternatives (coconut milk, soy, almond milk).
Soy House
Full disclosure, this is my favorite place to get bubble tea. Over lunch one day, my first-timer friend Anne’s review was that “the bubbles are delicious. I was afraid they’d be slimy. Blended is better, with coconut milk, of course.”
My standard green tea boba with tapioca pearls. Coconut jellies were added at the suggestion of my Soy House server. Photo credit: Marla Bronstein
Bellis Boba Company
My
first-timer friend Heidi joined me. We were surprised to learn that the day we
went was this store’s eleventh day in business, and their service was faster
than most. They have lots of different flavors, (70% natural flavoring) with
both traditional tapioca pearls, as well as 30 options of fruit jellies and
bursting boba, fruit juice in a thin gelatin. Their additional
options included protein powder or vanilla ice cream for their smoothies.
The
manager suggested a Taro milk tea with coconut, although advised this would be
a lot of calories. “It’s like the milk left over in your sweet cereal bowl.”
Theirs, admittedly, tasted more like a dessert. Heidi dubbed it “really good.”
Mine was very sweet. I still prefer the chewy pearls over the bursting boba,
but they were good.
Tapioca pearls and Bursting Boba are all that remain at the bottom of my Bellis Boba beverage. Photo credit: Marla Bronstein
Bliss Tea
Bliss
Tea was the place friends in-the-know told me made “the best” bubble tea. In fact, most of the
people I know who know boba, know Bliss Tea. There were many more flavors and
options than most of the other stores, and it was equally as easy to make it
the most expensive with all of the optional additions.
Bliss Tea artwork brightens up the store. It’s a very popular and centrally located spot for bubble tea. Photo credit: Marla Bronstein
Muto Ramen & Sushi
Muto doesn’t have a large selection of options for their bubble tea, but what they do have is delightful. The three on their menu were Thai tea, Milk tea or Taro. The Thai tea was supposed to be the least sweet of the three, which I thought, after drinking, was still pretty tasty.
I was surprised to learn that Spice Hut sells bubble teas. I was told I could choose from just about any of the teas in their store for my base flavor — that’s a lot of choices. I went with their standard fare, and it was scrumptious. Spice Hut’s website boasts that it makes each batch of tapioca fresh daily.
This store was the furthest from my home, but the least expensive of my testing, so it balanced out with the gas I had to use to get there.
I hope to try the bubble tea from the other stores once I lose the five pounds I gained from researching and data gathering for this round-up.
The Bellingham Bells have long been a perennial part of
Bellingham summers.
The collegiate-level
baseball team plays its home games at Joe Martin Field on
(usually) warm summer evenings, and attending one is a fun, inexpensive way to
kick back.
Thanks to a partnership between the team and Puget Sound Energy, several
of their home games are now a great reminder of the many wonderful community
nonprofits that exist in Whatcom County.
“Community Wednesdays” at the ballpark highlights a
different local nonprofit, with each organization setting up a table for
community engagement at no cost to them. In addition, the featured nonprofit
receives a Bells donation of $1 per ticket sold that night; PSE donates another
$100 per run scored by the team that evening.
Kaden Taylor, with local nonprofit the DISH Foundation, throws out the first pitch at the June 15, 2022, Bells game as part of Community Wednesdays sponsored by Puget Sound Energy. Photo courtesy Puget Sound Energy
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Puget Sound Energy
on this promotion,” says Bells General Manager Stephanie Morrell. “PSE and the
Bells both feel strongly about supporting our community and we are excited to
be able to help these organizations this summer.”
Liz Purdy, PSE’s community engagement representative for
Whatcom County, says the idea came from Morrell and was immediately embraced by
PSE.
“We loved the idea of featuring local nonprofits as part of
the way that we could support the Bells season,” she says. “I think it’s been
exciting for organizations to be able to kind of take a breather, honor their
staff and their volunteers, bring in some of the clients they serve, and spend
a night at the ballpark together.”
Each nonprofit also gets to pick someone associated with
them to throw out the game’s ceremonial first pitch.
On June 15, that honor fell to Kaden Taylor, a 17-year-old involved
with the DISH
Foundation. The organization’s mission is providing people with
intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) a chance to gain training
and real-world employment that fosters dignity, independence, purpose, and hope
(hence the acronym, DISH).
DISH partners with “Our Kitchen Bellingham,” a bakery and
coffee shop that operates out of a converted 40-foot shipping container at
Bellingham’s Waypoint Park. Those with IDDs receive vocational training and are
then give chances to prepare Our Kitchen’s food and drinks, obtaining
employment with a real business that can set the stage for future employment
opportunities.
Suzanne Taylor, Kaden’s mother, founded DISH in 2019 and
spent an enjoyable night at the ballpark.
“It was a really neat opportunity for us to be able to
bring a lot of our supporters out for the night, and give them some fun,” she
says. “It was a great experience.”
Kaden Taylor is greeted by a Bells player on the June 15 Community Wednesday, which raised donations for the DISH Foundation. Thanks to a partnership between the Bellingham Bells and Puget Sound Energy, several of this season’s home games are helping some of the wonderful nonprofits that exist in Whatcom County. Photo courtesy Puget Sound Energy
“Community Wednesdays” kicked off on June 1, the Bells’
first Wednesday night home game of the season, by highlighting Wild Whatcom, a
nonprofit that fosters lifelong connections to nature by organizing outdoor
educational programs for children.
Board chair Sarah Simpson threw out the game’s first pitch,
and the combination of fan attendance and the Bells’ 2-1 win netted Wild
Whatcom $806 in donations.
“We’re really appreciative of the opportunity to pair up
with PSE and the Bells — and other local and trusted partners — to raise
awareness about our programs,” says Executive Director Licia Sahagun. “Those
who attended the game not only got to enjoy a great night of baseball, but also
supported enrichment opportunities for local students and getting more youth
and families outside.”
Those opportunities include the nonprofit’s schools-based
programming for low-income and disabled students, as well as the general
student populations in the Blaine and Mount Baker School Districts.
Local nonprofit Wild Whatcom raised $806 in donations on June 1 through a combination of fan attendance and the Bells’ 2-1. Puget Sound Energy donates $100 per run scored on Community Wednesdays. Wild Whatcom Photo courtesy Puget Sound Energy
Other organizations featured by the Bells-PSE partnership —
all of which were invited to participate in the pilot year of the program —
include Communities
in Schools (June 8th participant), and Northwest Youth Services (June
22nd participant).
Two more “Community Wednesdays” will take place this season,
on July 6 and August 3. The former will feature Road2Home, a nonprofit
supporting those affected by homelessness, and the latter spotlights the Lummi Nation Boys & Girls
Club.
So, if you needed another excuse besides beer, sun, and ice
cream to get out to a Bellingham Bells game this summer, it’s safe to say
you’ve got one. The Bells, PSE and these great community nonprofits all hope to
see you soon.
Nancy Canyon spends time enjoying the beauty of Todd Creek with her dog, Olive. Photo credit: Ron Pattern
Artist, poet, and educator Nancy Canyon’s childhood home was across the street from Spokane’s Audubon Park, a 2.7-acre city park with a variety of mature trees: oak, maple, chestnut, fir, and pine. “I was in the park nearly every day,” she says, “collecting cones and leaves, sketching plants, and drinking in tree aerosols. “In a way, the park was my sanctuary.” It’s fitting, then, that Nancy recently accepted the position of Whatcom Land Trust’s Poet by the organization for the project “Writing the Land: A collaboration between Poets and Protected lands and a project of NatureCulture.”
In this role, Nancy will create poetry in the Todd Creek area on the Nooksack River. Named for the creek that runs off of Stewart Mountain, the 59-acre piece of land is a patchwork of bigleaf maple and Sitka spruce forest, pastures, and wetlands set along the South Fork.
Whatcom Land Trust first reached out to the previous owner, Mildred Todd, in 2007. Todd was planning her estate and thought Todd Creek might be a good property for the Land Trust. After she passed away, the property went to the family estate. The Land Trust received a grant from the Department of Ecology and the property was finally purchased for permanent protection in May of 2019.
Nancy’s husband, Ron Pattern, is a steward for this parcel, and while he planted trees or removed invasive species, she wrote poems while sitting on the rocky beach as eagles flew over the river.
“Being a poet for the land is a perfect fit for me,” she says.
“I could easily sit and write for hours, following the story unfolding in my mind,” says Nancy Canyon. Photo credit: Ron Pattern
In her year of writing poetry at Todd Creek, Nancy will
pen three poems for the program and record herself reading a poem for the
Writing the Land website.
Writing the Land partners with land trusts across the U.S. Poets visit their adopted properties, and then create poems inspired by the land. An anthology will be published at year’s end.
Nancy says that as a visual artist who also wrote poetry, writing was always more difficult for her. But Natalie Goldberg, author of “Writing Down the Bones,” helped her get words on the page with her mantra: Write fast and don’t edit. Nancy began digging into her feelings by using writing prompts such as: “I remember when…”
And then she was accepted into the creative writing program at Pacific Lutheran University.
“I had been writing fiction and poetry for a number of years, and began a rough draft of my published novel, “Celia’s Heaven.” She’d also been working as a fine artist, painting natural elements and showing her work in Seattle and on the Kitsap Peninsula.
In her role as Whatcom Land Trust poet, Nancy will create poetry in the Todd Creek area on the Nooksack River. Photo credit: Ron Pattern
It’s not the first time she’ll be writing in nature.
In 1972, when Nancy was 21, she manned Corral Hill Lookout
in the Nez-Perce Clearwater National Forest.
“I spent my off-time wandering around in the woods, studying plants,” she recalls. “I thought at the time that I wanted to write an herb book. I loved the idea that plants had healing qualities and that I could collect them, dry them, and make them into tea for a headache, cramps, or sore throat, and I could live off many plants growing in the wild around me.”
She didn’t keep a specific journal during that time — “I
could kick myself for that now,” she says — but she wrote letters, the best way
to stay in touch with family and friends from a mountaintop, in which she
described natural phenomena, copied out recipes, and suggested herbal remedies
for healing her family members and friends.
She wrote about the experience in her memoir, “Struck.”
“I could easily sit and write for hours, following the
story unfolding in my mind,” Nancy says. “Some people can’t visualize like that, but for me, every
scene I create first starts in my mind’s eye as a movie. Even poems start as an
image for me.”
Nancy Canyon spends time enjoying the beauty of Todd Creek with her dog, Olive. Photo credit: Ron Pattern
When she paints, Nancy likes to render what is right in front of her, such as one leaf or flower, enlarged beyond its natural size, and painted in fine detail.
“Close-up detail work suits my nature — observing minute details, rendering them until an image comes alive,” she says. “That excites me.”
Nancy finds both writing and painting to be therapeutic.
“As I remain focused in the moment on an image or story, I
lose myself in detail,” she says. “Once I achieve laser focus, everything else drops away
except for the task at hand.’
Although she does schedule time to write poems and to work
in her art studio in Fairhaven’s Morgan
Block, she loves it when the muse strikes.
“The blank page and the blank canvas can intimidate,” she admits. She tells her students, “Show up! Don’t think! Just create!”
Blocks, she continues, happen when intimidation results in procrastination. “If you schedule time and show up prepared to work…then something will come from your effort. And there’s always the possibility for brilliance. If not brilliance then, at least, satisfaction!”
People can follow Nancy at www.nancycanyon.com. Learn more about Writing the Land here, and how you can support Whatcom Land Trust here.
Concertgoers are encouraged to bring any items they like (though alcohol is prohibited in city parks) to better enjoy the performances. Photo credit: Marla Bronstein
Summertime brings with it a magic unique to long sunny
days, breezy nights, and outdoor events that evoke joy. The Elizabeth
Park Summer Concert Series is a fantastic way to relish yet another
beautiful Western Washington summer, brought to life by the Eldridge Society
for History and Preservation and Bellingham Parks and Recreation. President of
the Eldridge Society and full-time John L. Scott Realtor Peter Roberts sat down
with WhatcomTalk to share the concert series’ history and invite music lovers
of all ages to come and experience local and beloved artists in the Whatcom
community.
“Back in the mid-’80s, the music scene in Bellingham was starting to really develop,” says Roberts. He recalls walking his dog in Elizabeth Park on a foggy, chilly summer night, when his ears were suddenly filled with “an incredibly haunting viola sound. Anna Schaad, who is a pretty well-known local famous musician, was standing in the middle of the gazebo playing her viola.”
Performers Raveis Kole serenade listeners from the beautiful Elizabeth Park gazebo at the opening concert in 2022. Photo credit: Marla Bronstein
Those ethereal notes struck inspiration in Roberts, who brought together the efforts of himself, Karen Duim — who was the owner of a neighborhood commercial kitchen — and a member of the Eldridge Society’s board of directors, John Barnes, to create concerts in Elizabeth Park on summer nights.
“Karen’s Kitchen supplied her famous homemade pasta dishes
for the neighborhood,” Roberts says. “When we first started out, we might have
gotten 30 or 40 locals showing up with their homemade dinner or buying a dinner
from one of the vendors. It’s grown into over 500 people scattered all over the
park.”
The gazebo where it all began became the center of the
concert series, where all future participating musicians would set up shop and
play their unique compositions.
Eldridge Society President Peter Roberts, pictured with wife Pamela, has been a central figure to the Elizabeth Park Concert Series since its inception close to 30 years ago. Photo credit: Marla Bronstein
“The gazebo was built by the Eldridge Society of History
and Preservation back in 1984,” says Roberts. “Mayor Douglas dedicated it and
we did it with the help of the Parks board. The roof needed repair in the late ’90s
so, as president, I offered to personally take care of the roof; in return they
gave me the rights to hold concerts in the park in perpetuity at no cost to the
Eldridge Society.”
The concert series is an ever-growing, treasured community
event in Bellingham aimed at bringing folks from all walks of life to the park
to share something beautiful. “We get everybody from babies to people well into
their 80s and 90s with walkers,” Roberts says. “It’s basically a slice of
Bellingham life at the park. It started out as local and it kind of grew into a
citywide event to something even bigger than that. To me, it’s like walking
home.”
Music director of the series, Marla Bronstein, has been
integral to its success for the last nine years. “Marla is very active in both
the music and theater scene in Bellingham and Whatcom County, and she selects
and schedules the bands,” says Roberts. “She starts picking them in February
and we usually have a slate of 10 or 11 concerts by March of any given year.”
Concertgoers enjoy local vendors, dancing, and live music at this free community event in Elizabeth Park. Photo credit: Marla Bronstein
The gazebo has hosted several locally famous musicians and
artists over the years, such as the Walrus, Heroes, SpaceBand, and bandZandt. “From
the beginning, we’ve attempted to keep it local, if possible,” Roberts says. “Though,
Marla has recruited people from as far away as Mount Vernon. We like to feature
— both in our food vendors and in our music — community-minded local talent.
We’ve had everything from one person with a guitar to a 20-piece ensemble play
for us.”
The Eldridge Society for History and Preservation is a nonprofit
Washington state corporation that usually raises funds via historical home
tours. “Due to Marla’s great creativity and the generosity of our followers, we’ve
been able to pay for ourselves,” says Roberts. “We do not give the bands a
large stipend to play, but they do it for the exposure to the many people who
come to Elizabeth Park to listen.”
The event is free, and visitors are encouraged to bring
whatever items they like to comfortably experience the Thursday night concerts.
“It is a public park and there isn’t any alcohol allowed in a public park, but
you’re allowed to bring a picnic lunch or anything you want,” Roberts says. “I
personally bring chairs and many people bring blankets. We recycle and compost
as much as possible — all of our vendors bring recyclables and compostable items.”
Concertgoers are encouraged to bring any items they like (though alcohol is prohibited in city parks) to better enjoy the performances. Photo credit: Marla Bronstein
Currently, the park has two vendors during their concerts,
for convenience. “We have Edaleen
Dairy from Lynden for ice cream treats and have Juanita’s
Mexican Kitchen with variations of Mexican fare,” says Roberts. “I’m also
working on getting a hotdog vendor to come.”
The series is about community, and Bellingham continues to
come together and support the longevity of events like this one. “We did a
partial partnership with Whatcom
Educational Credit Union,” says Roberts. “They are passionate
about supporting communities and they’ve chipped in to help cover the expenses
of putting on this free event.”
Roberts recounts memories from his childhood that have
served as motivation for the vision of this series. “When I was a young man I
lived in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, a little town halfway between New York
City and the Delaware water gap,” Roberts says. “We would have lots of block
parties, park events, Fourth of July parades, and fireworks at the big lake. That’s
kind of what we’re trying to accomplish here. We’re trying to have a
community-oriented affair that brings a whole bunch of people together for a healing,
listening, all-age appropriate event.”
The Eldridge Society works to preserve human connection and
history, continuing to successfully bring the Elizabeth Park Concert Series to
Bellingham every summer.
Click here for a list of concert dates and performers.
Peter Roberts welcomes your real estate questions and can be contacted through his webpage or at 360.739.3660.
Kevin Wiebe is a Ferndale native. Although he graduated from Ferndale High School, he admits he wasn't a model student. His teachers and administrators...
