🐹 Bird Funerals 🦜🦜

Good morning, Bellingham. This is your Monday update from The Hamster Wheel.

Have fun, and stay safe out there!

~ Evan

Puzzlers: A new game section is in the works. The first games are three daily Sudoku puzzles that range from easy to hard. I’m still debugging the solver-based difficulty validation and I need your feedback. Try solving a Sudoku and let me know how it goes.

I think the top-ten leaderboard is now working. 👍 Shoot me a note if you notice anything off.

Or, hit reply to send me photos via email. 📧

The team behind the Twin Sisters Mobile Market are holding their annual spring fundraiser at El Sueñito Brewing Company tomorrow, May 26 from 5 to 7:30 pm, with a silent auction, local prizes, and a market stocked with produce, meats, seafood, flowers, soaps, and other goods sourced entirely from Whatcom County farms and producers.

Auction items include Backcountry Essentials gear rentals, Vital climbing passes, restaurant gift cards, handmade goods, and a Pickford Film Center membership.

When they’re not holding a fabulous fundraiser, the nonprofit mobile market serves three 'food deserts' in Whatcom County, operating in Birchwood, Kendall, Deming, and with the Nooksack Tribe, bringing fresh local food into communities through a 35-foot solar-powered truck. You’ve likely seen them set up across from the now empty Big Lots at the corner of Birchwood and Northwest.

This is a really great organization that’s worthy of support if you’re in a position to do so. They work with more than 20 small, Whatcom County farms. They help move fresh produce into neighborhoods that are otherwise underserved. And they accept SNAP, WIC, and other alternative payment methods, doubling SNAP benefits to help make local food more accessible. Unsold produce from the markets is donated to Foothills Food Bank.

The city has announced the start of annual alley maintenance and repair work in Bellingham neighborhoods. This work includes filling potholes and regrading or realigning alleys throughout the city.

Before maintenance starts, crews inspect alleys to make sure vegetation isn’t encroaching into the travel area. If branches or plants from a property are extending into the alley, the owner may be asked to keep the alley clear by trimming branches up to 15 feet above the ground.

This one made me laugh. Apparently the county bought a property with a large home as part of flood-related planning and management efforts in the Acme area. They’ve since decided the home is not needed, so they’ve listed it as surplus personal property with a current auction running. Mind you, this is literally a you-haul situation! And it’s just for the house.

It’s actually a pretty rad opportunity if someone had a buildable property near the current 2096 Valley Highway address. With a short move, you’d have a lovely 2000+ square foot home built in 1924 that you could plop down on a new foundation. You know… just a quick weekend project. 😆

The North Cascades Audubon Society meets tomorrow, May 26, for a presentation by artist and birder Vesper Rothberg on Bird Funerals: Painting Ecological Change, where they will present paintings of birds in funerary arrangements and a portfolio of their tattoos of birds, and will discuss how art can function as a conservation tool.

A lifelong birder and Western Washington University graduate with backgrounds in painting and biology, Rothberg is also known locally for bird-themed tattoo work created through Fairhaven’s Wiggle Room Tattoo studio. The event begins at 6:30 pm and is free, with a suggested $5 donation.

LOCAL READS

Edwin and Alice Twitmyer: Early 20th Century Bellingham’s Teaching Duo
By Jennifer Crooks · WhatcomTalk
Edwin and Alice Twitmyer shaped public education in early 20th century Bellingham as a rare married teaching couple during a period when many districts barred married women from classrooms. Jennifer reports that Edwin led North Side High School while Alice taught Latin and became active in local suffrage and civic organizations. Read more →

· · · · · · · · · · · · ·

Most of $3.5 million in Washington flood aid yet to be handed out
By Jake Goldstein-Street · Cascadia Daily News / Washington State Standard
While FEMA has distributed nearly $7 million in flood recovery aid across Washington, much of the state-level assistance remains stalled because of income limits, insurance restrictions, and county-specific qualifications. Jake details how officials are balancing fraud prevention with growing pressure to make future aid programs more accessible. Read more →

CIVIC CORNER

Tuesday
Bellingham Tourism Commission, 3:30 pm, Mayor’s Boardroom
Port of Bellingham Board of Commissioners, 4:00 pm, Harbor Center
Whatcom County Council, 9:50 am with regular meeting at 6:00 pm, Council Chambers
Everson City Council, 7:00 pm, Council Chambers at City Hall
Whatcom Child & Family Well-Being Task Force Meeting, 3:30 pm, 509 Girard St.

Thursday
WhatWhat-Comm Administrative Board Meeting, 1:00 pm, 625 Halleck St

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Wednesday
Fairhaven Community Garden: Help the city tend to the community spaces at Fairhaven Community Garden. Register

Thursday
Horseshoe Bend: Join the Whatcom Trails Association crew to perform annual maintenance and logout on trails in the Mt. Baker District of the Mt. Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest. Register

Friday
Baker Lake: Join the Whatcom Trails Association for annual maintenance and fun projects on the east bank of Baker Lake. You'll stay in a tree-lined campsite, wake up to views of Mount Baker, the sound of cascading water, and loons calling across the glacier-fed lake water. Register

Saturday
Sehome Hill Arboretum: Join the city, WWU E.R.C., & WWU L.E.A.D. to kick off the Arboretum Day 2026 celebration by removing invasive species at a trail entrance near the southern entrance of the Sehome Arb at Western Washington University. Register

Sunday
South Bay Trail: Join Whatcom Million Trees Project at this student-led project for the L.E.A.D. (Learning, Environment, Action, Discovery) seminar at WWU, in removing ivy at South Bay Trail. Register

Not long ago, I passed along the last of the pack ‘n plays that had cluttered the guest room, and took down the gate that for years guarded the top of our staircase. A few of the oh-so-many things that accompanied raising young children in our modern world. It’s the most wonderful season, and at the same time utterly overwhelming.

It’s for moms and dads in this phase of life, that a lovely business called Whatcom Family Village was developed.

Julia Zefting 👇, a Bellingham mother of three young children and founder of Whatcom Family Village offers prenatal/childbirth classes, support circles, play and social hours, fitness classes, and educational workshops for expecting parents, and folks with growing families. All of this, in a beautiful studio space, with a lounge, and kids’ play area, and free coffee for sleep-deprived mums and dads. ☕

Whatcom Family Village looks like an amazing resource, both to learn and grow as parents, and to connect with families on the same journey into parenthood. You can learn more about their offerings on their website.

Uisce Irish Pub
Guffawingham (comedy) | Mon 8:30 pm

New Prospect Theatre
The Problem Party (theatre) | Sat, Sun

The Upfront Theatre
Various performances

Salsa & Bachata - Viking Union - Mon 7 pm
Bellingham Embodiment Collective - Majestic Ballroom - Mon 6:30 pm
Contact Improv - Aikido Peace Education Center - Mon, class 5:30, jam 7 pm
Cuban Salsa - Cof& - Tues 6 pm
B’ham Hop - Crystal Ballroom - Tues 8 pm
Taster Tuesdays (hip hop) - Lost Giants Cider Co - Tues 6 pm
Tango Practica - The Majestic - Wed 6:30 pm
Revolution Fusion - Karate Church - Thurs 7 pm
Contra - Fairhaven Library - Sat 7 pm
Sunset Silent Disco - Zuanich - Sat 7:30 pm
Salsa Collective - The Majestic - Sun 5:30 pm
Belly Dance - Karate Church - Sun 1 pm
Open Floor Conscious Dance - Bellingham Fitness - Sunday 10:30 am

Old-time musicians Sammy Lind and Nadine Landry will perform at The Hedge House tomorrow, May 26, joined by the Shadies Trio for an evening of fiddle tunes and traditional American string music. Lind and Landry are longtime members of the Foghorn Stringband, known for early folk and dance music. The event begins with a 6 pm potluck and music starts at 7 pm at 517 E. Maple St. Admission is by donation.

London-based duo Towse performs at The Admiralty Lounge tomorrow, May 26, combining violin, piano, and two voices. They play feelings-forward folk-pop with a sense of humor and theatrical energy, and their songs have a vulnerability every audience can connect with.

Celebrate Memorial Day with The Shanannagins live at Station 49 from 3:00 to 6:00 pm, led by singer Christy Coffey who performed for years on the Las Vegas Strip and on cruise ships all over the world.

Memorial Day
In remembrance of our heroes.

Monday Music & Trivia →

Three Fingers Fire Lookout: The Mountain, A Lookout, and Its Lookouts, Backcountry Essentials – Author Malcolm Bates shares photos, videos, and stories from his recently updated book on the history of the Three Fingers Lookout during a 7:30 pm speaker event focused on the mountain, the historic fire lookout, and the people connected to it.

Birchwood Neighborhood Housing Meeting, Birchwood Elementary School Library – A community discussion on middle housing and creative housing solutions runs from 6:30 to 8 pm, featuring panelists and a brainstorming session focused on affordability, development ideas, and neighborhood housing options in Birchwood.

Tuesday Music & Trivia →

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