🐹 Toad Lake Tadpole 🐸🐸

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

Yesterday was lovely, but there was a slight chill just after sunset I haven’t noticed on nights prior. It was the first hint of fall. Let the mushrooms commence! 🍄 

Have fun, and stay safe out there!

Nature, Community, Sasquatch, UAP

Photos From the Hoods

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Weather Forecast

Friday: 79°F 🌡️ 61°F | ☀️ Sunny | 🌧️ 17% | 💨 S 1 to 5 mph

Saturday: 76°F 🌡️ 61°F | 🌧️ Chance of Rain | 🌧️ 37% | 💨 SSW 2 to 6 mph

Sunday: 71°F 🌡️ 60°F | 🌧️ Chance of Rain | 🌧️ 46% | 💨 S 2 to 7 mph

Moon Phases

Events, Updates & News Around Town

Get off the Hamster Wheel

North Cascades Highway’s Grand Opening

On September 2, 1972, Governor Dan Evans and Edward Nixon led a convoy to open the North Cascades Highway, a 436-mile ribbon linking Discovery Bay to Newport. This week, WSDOT posted vintage photos 👇️ commemorating the completion of a project “nearly 80 years in the making.”

The highway’s story began over 8,000 years ago as a trading route connecting Salish Coast tribes to Washington’s Eastern Plateau. European settlers, as early as the 1840s, demanded a path through Washington’s northern Cascades but early attempts, like the ill-fated Cascade Wagon Road of 1896, were washed away by floods, and a 1909 route over Hart’s Pass proved too treacherous.

By the 1930s, the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project reignited calls for a modern crossing, and in 1953, a coalition called the the North Cascades Highway Association began lobbying for a highway to support tourism and timber access.

Construction kicked off in 1959, navigating Washington Pass (5,477 feet) and Rainy Pass, with workers carving hairpin turns into cliffs. By 1972, the highway was complete, and 8,000 visitors flocked to the Washington Pass overlook that first weekend

In other news…

I’m including this one purely for the cuteness factor. 🥰 Whatcom Humane Society just released a group of orphaned kit raccoons that spent the summer at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center growing and learning to survive on their own. Video of the release below. 👇️ 

The post describes how “they were released this week, deep in the forest, far away from people, roads and buildings.” Sweet little roly-poly stinkers. 🦝🦝🦝🦝🦝 

🐟️ The Bham Public Works Department announced this week that work has resumed on the Padden Creek Fish Passage Project at 12th Street and 14th Street, after two diesel spills triggered a cleanup effort that lasted nearly a month.

Unified Command, including the Washington State Department of Ecology (lead agency), City of Bellingham, Lummi Nation, Nooksack Indian Tribe, and Faber Construction updated that “Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Technique (SCAT) teams conducted a final walkthrough on August 25 and confirmed that no recoverable fuel remained. Flushing operations were discontinued and equipment removed from the site. Work at the spill site has transitioned from emergency response to restoration and long-term monitoring.”

⛏️ Volunteer Opportunities This Weekend: There are two outdoor work parties this weekend.

• Lower Middle Fork: Join Whatcom Land Trust staff for a day at the Lower Middle Fork Complex removing invasive ivy and supporting the health of a vibrant floodplain forest. This 12.44-acre property, protected by the Trust in 2017 through the generosity of local landowners, lies along the Middle Fork Nooksack River and plays a vital role in salmon recovery. Register.

• Interurban Trail: Join the Whatcom Million Trees Project team in removing ivy to save trees along the Interurban Trail near Fairhaven. Register.

Garage & Estate Sales

Your Source For Vintage Can Openers

4213 Van Horn Lane (Fri, Sat 9 am)
So much fun stuff at this one! Vintage canning jars, classic comics, clothing, household items, toys, and even a bike. It started on Thursday, but there should be plenty left for Friday pickers. map

• 2600 Russell St., Sat, 9 am, map

• 1414 East Victor St., Sat, 10 am, map

• 2825 Creasy Road, Fri 7 am, map

• 336 Island Green Way, Sat, 9 am, map

• 350 8th Street, Fri, Sat, 8:30 am, map

• 5923 Cheryl Ct, Fri, Sat, 8:30 am, map

• 115 British Columbia Avenue, Fri, Sat, 9 am, map

• 4611 Everson Goshen Rd, Fri, Sat, Sun, 8 am, map

• 3015 Vallette St., Fri, Sat, Sun, 9 am, map

• 1234 Grant Street, Fri, Sat, noon, map

• 5362 Northwest Dr., Sat, 8 am, map

• 4637 Morgan St., Sat, 9 am, map

Bellingham Dockside Market

Seafood From The Salish Sea

The Bellingham Dockside Market is open tomorrow (Saturday), from 10 AM to 2PM at GATE 5 in Squalicum Harbor.

FRESH AT DOCKSIDE

DJ Fish Co
💙(Fresh) pink salmon

Drayton Harbor Oyster Co
💙(Fresh) Pacific oysters, 💙(Fresh) Taylor Shellfish clams and mussels

Fifth Generation Fisheries
💙(Fresh) troll-caught WA whole albacore tuna

Fish Fed Foods
💙(Fresh) Veggies, 💙(Fresh) Chanterelle mushrooms

Jean C Family Fisheries
💙(Fresh) Black Cod, 💙(Fresh) Lingcod and Rockfish

Lummi Seafood Market
💙(Fresh) King Salmon, 💙(Fresh) Coho

Sea to Shore Seafood Co.
💙(Fresh) Coho salmon

Slack Tide Fisheries
💙(Fresh) king salmon, 💙(Fresh) coho salmon

LUNCH AT DOCKSIDE

Drayton Harbor Oyster Co
Grilled Oysters! There’s nothing better 🦪🦪!!

It's the Sweet Things
Bellingham’s own It's the Sweet Things will serve Smoked Salmon Pastries, Smoked Salmon Spread, and more!

Jean C Family Fisheries
Grilled black cod with side of rice and coleslaw.

Seashells Coffee Co
Hot coffee and tea beverages, Iced coffee, Lotus, Italian sodas, smoothies, and specialty drinks.

Food & Drink

Hamsters Gotta Eat

Because it’s fun to be a lookie-loo

Crash an Open House

2807 Mt Baker Highway (Open Sat, Sun 1-3 pm)
If you’re a project person like me this little home off the Mt Baker Highway might tickle your fancy. It has a fantastic modern shop with tall doors for an RV or boat, plus an older 24×60 shed for all your overflow toys. Sweet! Listing.

3210 W 51st Vista, Ferndale (Open Sat 1-3 pm, Sun 11-1 pm)
This modern cutie gives me a Little House on the Prairie vibe. Just imagine all the sunlight you’d get with nothing but grassy fields in all directions! 🌞 It comes with tall ceilings, modern features, and sits on 5 acres. Listing.

Performance Arts This Week

Dance of The Hamsters

LIVE ARTS & FILM

New Prospect Theatre
Tales of the Sea | Fri 7:00 pm; Sat 9:00

The Upfront Theatre
Various performances.

PARTICIPATORY DANCE

Sunset Silent Disco - Zuanich - Sat 7:00 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

This Saturday is the 2025 Lynden Whiskey Event, a spirited celebration in downtown Lynden featuring local distilleries, and live music. Tickets include five tasting tokens for whiskeys, vodka, or wine, plus a commemorative shot glass, wristband, and access to Main Stage concerts on 5th Street. Stroll through street vendors, buskers, and cigar areas, enjoy a beer garden, and catch local musicians at restaurants—reserve dinner early! Concert-only tickets are available, and proceeds support the Lynden Music Festival.

Join the Whatcom County Dahlia Society at the Bloedel Donovan Park Gym this Saturday and Sunday for the 2025 Dahlia Show. Free and open to the public to see the spectacular display and vast array of all the dahlia types! Meet friendly gardening experts eager to answer all your dahlia questions. Saturday noon to 5 pm, and Sunday 10 am to 4 pm.

Trestles is a beach rock project from Santa Cruz, California. Formed in 2021, the new band made a name for themselves playing in the college rock circuit during the major post-pandemic scene resurgence. While Trestles allows the beach town aesthetic of Santa Cruz to seep into their music, the band is more interested in creating a sound that equally criticizes and celebrates west coast garage rock tradition. Make.Shift Art Space this Saturday at 8 pm.

Saturday is an opportunity to shred your sensitive documents at WECU’s bi-annual Shred Day. This free event is open to both WECU members and the public. It will be held in the parking lot of the WECU Community Resource Center from 10am-1pm or until the truck is full. Bring up to two file-sized boxes or grocery bags of sensitive documents to shred. No junk mail, metal clips, wet or bulky/bound items.

The Penny Stinkers began as a folksy “busking” band; however, through the last decade it has grown into a unique, high-energy party band that balances trips down memory lane with the latest in musical genres and hard-charging originals. Catch them at the Summer Sunset Sessions, a collaboration between New Prospect Theatre and the Bellingham Cider Company this Sunday at 6:30 pm.

FRIDAY

Casaundra May and James, El Capitan’s - Together, Casaundra May and James have created a unique and dynamic presentation of the Blues that would be right at home in Mississippi, right here at home in the Skagit Valley. Blues start at 7 pm.

Gong & Sound Bath Benefit for Whatcom Million Trees Project, Firehouse Arts & Events Center - Unwind and replenish in a deeply relaxing soundscape with Kristi Moseley of Mystic Heart Sound Meditation. Proceeds benefit Whatcom Million Trees Project. Reserve your spot.

Friday Music & Trivia →

SATURDAY

55th Community Food Co-op Anniversary Celebration, Trackside Beer Garden - The Co-op is pulling out all the stops to celebrate 55 years of serving this community. They are bringing the city together for live music, circus performances, face painting, tie-dying, birthday cake, and more. A free celebration from 2 to 7 pm.

Good Trouble 2 - More Protest Songs For These Times, FireHouse Arts & Events Center - Join a group of local musicians and songwriters for a sing-a-long of uplifting songs of social justice. This is Chicken Soup for the Soul! Musicians on deck for this performance: Paul Klein, Linda Allen, Mike Hall, Steve Robinson, Geof Morgan, Lynne Giver, Keith Carpenter, and Tracy Spring.

Northwest Singles Social Club, Bellingham Cruise Terminal - A vibrant community of single, divorced, or widowed individuals in Whatcom and Skagit Counties who are over 55 and share a passion for connection, engagement, and simply having a good time. Bring your own coffee, from 10 am to 11 am. Learn more.

Saturday Music & Trivia →

SUNDAY

DJ Psychedelove, Stones Throw Brewery - A space for the community to come together and celebrate psychedelic culture through vinyl listening sessions, and the sharing of books, posters, magazines, and whatever else we can dream up. 6-8pm.

Alger Sunday Market, Alger Community Hall - Hunt for one-of-a-kind handmade treasures, grab the freshest local produce straight from our farmers, and discover amazing community businesses you won't find anywhere else! Plus live music that will have you dancing while you shop! 11am - 3pm at Alger Community Hall.

Sunday Music & Trivia →

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Hakuna matata

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