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

If anyone decides to take the Master Melittologist training we looked at on Monday, I’d love to hear your feedback about it. 👍️ I don’t have time this summer but I’m hoping to nerd out on bees when the long rain returns. 😉 

Have fun, and stay safe out there!

Nature, Community, Sasquatch, UAP

Photos From the Hoods

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Weather Forecast

Wednesday: 80°F 🌡️ 59°F | ☀️ Sunny | 🌧️ 4% | 💨 SSW 1 to 5 mph

Thursday: 77°F 🌡️ 60°F | 🌤️ Mostly Sunny | 🌧️ 16% | 💨 S 3 to 8 mph

Moon Phases

Events, Updates & News Around Town

Get off the Hamster Wheel

Western Students and Whatcom Museum Partnership leads to WPA-era Lithograph Exhibit

This summer, the Whatcom Museum is hosting an exhibition curated by undergraduates from Western’s Art and Art History Department, who helped select the works, write the wall text, and design the gallery layout for A Pull to the Pacific: West Coast Lithography of the New Deal Era. The collaboration was part of a capstone class led by Professor Julia Sapin, who saw an opportunity for hands-on experience when the museum invited her students to contribute.

The exhibition features Works Progress Administration lithographs produced by West Coast artists as part of the Federal Art Project. These pieces, “on loan from the U.S. General Services Administration’s Fine Arts Collection, reflect daily life, social change, and political themes during the Great Depression” 

While some of the artists are well known, others were marginalized in their time and nearly forgotten. The students were tasked with uncovering what little history remained—often just a footnote or gallery mention—and building interpretive material from it.

A Pull to the Pacific is on view now at the Whatcom Museum and runs through September 28th. Learn more about this partnership in this article by Frances Badgett on Western’s news feed.

In other news…

🐶 How cute is this. The Whatcom Humane Society (WHS) posted that Barkley Village Haggen’s cake decorator, Desiree, has created an amazing display of longer-term shelter and farm animals currently at WHS.

They invite everyone to “stop by their bakery to see these adorable confectionary creations and learn about the adoptable animals that serve as their inspiration—then head on up the road to our Division Street shelter to say hello in person!” I’m pretty sure that’s a goat (or sheep) in the top left. I love it!! 😁 

🔥 Sitting on our back deck yesterday afternoon I noticed there was a gray-brown haze forming to the north over the Nooksack delta. It harkened back to the early smoke buildup during 2020. So, I checked the satellite smoke map maintained by the National Weather Service. 👇️ 

Sure enough, it looks like smoke from the Bear Gulch Fire located at the north end of Lake Cushman, and an as-of-now unnamed fire to it’s northeast, is drifting up the east coast of the Olympic Peninsula, across the San Juan Islands, and into Bellingham Bay. Fingers crossed this is the worst we see this summer. 🤞 

🌲 The Whatcom County Parks and Rec department has announced that the Point Whitehorn Nature Reserve trail (beach access) is closed due to structural damage to the stairs.

Staff is assessing the wood rot caused by age, environmental conditions, and prolonged exposure to the elements. There is currently no estimate for when the trail will reopen.

Solstice Senior Living

Savor the Moment

Culinary Delight at Solstice

Relish a retirement filled with home-style comfort at Solstice Senior Living! Enjoy hearty, lovingly prepared meals, served in a warm community setting. From classic recipes to seasonal specials, every dish prepared by our experienced culinary team celebrates your vibrant lifestyle.

Leave kitchen duties behind and savor the joy of shared, home-cooked flavors in Bellingham’s premier independent community!

Food & Drink

Hamsters Gotta Eat

Performance Arts This Week

Dance of The Hamsters

LIVE ARTS & FILM

Mount Baker Theatre
Missoula Children's Theatre: Princess and the Pea | Fri 5:30 pm, Sat 11:30 am

New Prospect Theatre
Mary’s Wedding | Thurs-Sun 7:30 pm

Bellingham TheatreWorks
The Grown-ups | Thurs, Fri 6:30 pm

iDiOM Theater
A Tourist's Guide to the End of Magic | Fri, Sat 7:30 pm

Boulevard Park Stage - BAAY
As You Like It | Sun 1pm

The Upfront Theatre
Various performances.

PARTICIPATORY DANCE

Tango Practica - The Majestic - Wed 6:30 pm
Summer Heat - Presence Studio - Thurs 6:30 pm
Sunset Silent Disco - Zuanich - Sat 7:30 pm
Salsa Collective - The Majestic - Sun 5:30 pm
Open Floor Movement - Presence Studio - Sun 10:30 am

Events & Nightlife

Spinning Into The Night

Feature an Event. Reach out.

FEATURED

Puppeteers for Fears is an Oregon-based comedy troupe, specializing in original horror and science fiction rock’n’roll musicals performed with puppets. The company was founded as a one-night-only cabaret show for Halloween 2015, but was so popular that its various members kept going and never looked back. Purchase tickets if you dare.

Mary's Wedding, a Bellingham Theatre Guild’s Satellite production, by Stephen Massicotte, directed by Mijo Stumpf, runs this Thursday through Sunday at the New Prospect Theatre.

In the growing disquiet of a gathering storm, Mary and Charlie fall in love for the first time. Awkward and sweet, they feel like they could spend their whole lives riding horses together through the wide-open fields. But the year is 1914, and as the world is swallowed by war, not even they can escape the certainty of fate.

Dana Crediford, Whatcom County theatre promotor and aficionado, describes how “Charlie’s simple life, upended by his sense of duty and love for Mary, coupled with his suspicion that he doesn’t deserve her leads to a belief that he sees her in everything and ultimately to an act of heroism that turns the tide of the war. The tale is told in the deepness of a dream and relies upon a vivid swirl of rain, thunder, lightning, wind in the hair, poetry, fear, fatigue, angels, visions, and the horrors of battle, so kudos to Seán McMullen for Lighting Design and to Sound Designer Saga Brooks for making that happen.” Tickets and info.

Marie, The Band is a locally grown folk duo featuring Rosie O’Neil, Colleen Freeman, 14 strings, 3 egg shakers, 4 feet, pleasant harmonies, and your smile. Their original tunes and songs pair well with crisp nature walks, exquisite life moments, and good company. Catch them at Boundary Bay with Afterlife Giftshop, and Dream Goats, on Thursday from 8 to 11 pm.

WEDNESDAY

LowDown Brass Band, The Problem Collective, Downtown Sounds - Embodying the vibrant Chicago music culture, LowDown Brass Band is a one-of-a-kind horn ensemble weaving the rhythm of the streets with conscious hip hop, reggae, and soul. Tunes begin at 5:30 pm, at the intersection of Bay, Holly, and Prospect St.

After Sounds, Boundary Bay Brewery - BBB has partnered up with Black Noise Records to bring back After Sounds, the official afterparty of Downtown Sounds! This week, look for OG Neeks, Devin Luna, and Chrvns, starting at 8 pm.

Wednesday Music & Trivia →

THURSDAY

Barkley Farmers Market, Barkley Village Green - Bring your picnic blanket and the rest of the family to enjoy the live music, check out the fantastic food truck options for lunch, or shop the various local vendors. 11 am to 2 pm at 2215 Rimland Dr.

Upbeat Vibe Collective, Elizabeth Park - The Upbeat Vibe Collective cover band plays songs that let the audience relive infectious moments of music history, with upbeat pop and rock hits spanning several decades, with a special nod to the vibrant 80s and 90s. Gather with friends and family at 6 pm.

The Chris Eger Band, Hotel Bellwether - Eger is a multi-instrumentalist, accomplished songwriter, kick-butt showman, as well as sensational vocalist for which he has been nominated three years in a row, for Best Male Vocalist by the Washington Blues Society. Chris is backed by bassist and father Randall Eger, who has over 35 years of live performance experience. Drummer, Mark Clark, is a veteran of the Northwest music scene, playing with the likes of the New Deal Rhythm Band and the Chryslers. Snag a ticket or two.

Thursday Music & Trivia →

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