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

The clouds are parting and the sun will return for the rest of this week. Bring it on!! We’re ready. 😎 

Have fun, and stay safe out there!

~ Val & Evan

Nature, Community, Sasquatch, UAP

Photos From the Hoods

Tag @bellinghamsterwheel on Instagram or reply to this email to get your photos in The Hamster Wheel.

Weather Forecast

Wednesday: 62°F 🌡️ 45°F | 🌤️ Mostly Sunny | 🌧️ 20% | 💨 SW 5 mph

Thursday: 65°F 🌡️ 47°F | 🌤️ Mostly Sunny | 🌧️ 0% | 💨 SW 1 to 6 mph

Moon Phases

Live at the Mount Baker Theatre

The Addams Family

Wednesday, June 4th

Join the MBT for a comical feast that embraces the wackiness in every family, The Addams Family is the magnificently macabre hit musical featuring everyone’s favorite creepy, kooky characters.

Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family…a man her parents have never met. And if that weren’t upsetting enough, Wednesday confides in her father, Gomez Addams, and begs him not to tell her mother, Morticia Addams. Now, Gomez must do something he’s never done before — keep a secret from his beloved wife.

Events, Updates & News Around Town

Get off the Hamster Wheel

WSDOT vs. Bellingham 2025

On the 14th of this month, the Washington State Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that time is running out for Bellingham’s iconic painted rock. DOT plans to remove or demolish the rock unless a suitable alternative location is found by June 1st.

It’s hard to miss Bellingham’s painted rock. It sits to the right of northbound I-5 a few hundred yards past the North Lake Samish overpass.

Since the late 1960s, Hamsters have used the rock as an unofficial billboard. Locals paint it to honor loved ones, celebrate graduations, and communicate snark to passing traffic. 😉 

The B’ham Rock has it’s own Facebook Page (Thank you, whomever runs this!!) where you’ll find lots of photos, and updates as the saga of the rock continues.

Forest Talks & Forest Walks

RE Sources, Center for Responsible Forestry, and Whatcom Million Trees Project, are hosting the second installment of their Book & Hike Club tomorrow with author Chad T. Hanson. Chad is the author of Smokescreen: Debunking Wildfire Myths to Save Our Forests and Our Climate, which makes an evidence-based case for rethinking fire—seeing it not as a disaster, but as an essential part of forest health and climate resilience.

Join the virtual meeting tomorrow, then plan to participate in the Group Forest Walk & Discussion (near Lake Whatcom) which is scheduled for June 29th. Get registered.

In other news…

📚️ The Springtime Friends of the Bellingham Public Library Book Sale starts today and runs through Saturday. Expect lots of new inventory thanks to a recent collaboration with Ridwell that provides a huge number of donated books to the sale.

Most books are $2, with all genres available. Books are full price today and tomorrow, then half-price on Friday and $5/bag on Saturday. The sale it in it’s normal location in the Central Library Lecture Room across from the children’s section downtown.

🏡 The Whatcom County Charter Review Commission meets tomorrow (May 22) in the Civic Annex Building Garden Room at 6 pm. If you’re the kind who likes to watch the sausage be made, watch the Charter Commission meeting videos in order from the beginning. It’s better than Netflix. 😉 

Food & Drink

Hamsters Gotta Eat

Performance Arts This Week

Dance of The Hamsters

LIVE ARTS & FILM

iDiOM Theater
The Cherry Orchard | Thurs-Sat 7:30 pm

New Prospect Theatre:
To Whom It May Concern | Sat 7:30 pm

The Upfront Theatre
The GBU | Thurs 7:30 pm
Space Trek | Fri 7:30 pm
Movie Mayhem | Fri 9:30 pm
Space Trek | Sat 7:30 pm
Punch Line | Sat 9:30 pm

PARTICIPATORY DANCE

 Salsa & Bachata 
Bachata - ‘ONO Kitchen & Bar - Thurs 7:30 pm
Salsa Collective - The Majestic - Sun 5:30 pm

 Tango  
Tango Practica - The Majestic - Wed 6:30 pm

 Other  
Flow Fusion - Karate Church - Thurs 7 pm
Sunset Silent Disco - Zuanich - Sat 7:30 pm 

Events & Nightlife

Spinning Into The Night

Feature an Event. Reach out. 
Tell us about an event. Use this link.

FEATURED

Saltwater Cowboys, Stones Throw - Homas Sandblom and Michael Ahandron Jr. Two guys, two guitars, two voices, four arms and ten fingers! Wednesday night out.

WEDNESDAY

Touch-a-Truck at Pioneer Park - Climb around in a dump truck, backhoe or street sweeper, and learn from the Ferndale Public Works. Find the times.

Wine Flight Night w. Scribe Winery, Overflow Taps - Sample a flight of three amazing wines from Scribe Winery out of Sonoma, California. Sipp’n on Scribe.

Wednesday Music & Trivia →

THURSDAY

Vine Deloria Jr. Indigenous Studies Symposium, Northwest Indian College - This year’s theme, "The World We Used to Live In: Upholding Our Duty to Past and Future Generations in the Fight for Indigenous Sovereignty," reflects the contributions Vine Deloria Jr. made to Indigenous thought and activism. Register to attend.

Meet-A-Truck, Bellingham Public Library - You’ve seen big City of Bellingham trucks around town, ever wondered what some of them do? Come meet the Public Works crew and the big trucks and equipment that keep our streets, storm drains, sewer and water lines running smoothly. Starts at 1 pm.

80’s Themed Music Bingo, DownTime Taps - Mosey on out to the DownTime Taps in Ferndale for a night of 80s Costume-Themed Music Bingo! Starts at 7 pm.

Thursday Music & Trivia →

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Hakuna matata

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Have a great Wednesday!!