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🐹 Native Plant Stewardship 🌲🌲

🐹 Native Plant Stewardship 🌲🌲

March 10, 2025

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

Just when our five o’clock wakeups were tinged with the dawn, daylight savings rolled around, and we were plunged back into five am darkness. Enough with this madness!! 😉

Have fun, and stay safe out there!

~ Val & Evan

🍰 Birthday Shoutout 🍰

Happy birthday, Michelle Brightwater 🎉

Nature, Community, Sasquatch, UAP

Photos From the Hoods

Elizabeth Park Squirrel - 📷 by Cliff Knitter

Sunset from Eldridge Ave - 📷 by Kelly Grega

Crocus - 📷 by Margaret Oppenheimer

Squallicum High School Sunset - 📷 by Char Seawell

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

Weather Forecast

Monday: 48°F 🌡️ 38°F | 🌧️ Rain Showers | 🌧️ 80% | 💨 S 7 mph

Tuesday: 48°F 🌡️ 40°F | 🌧️ Light Rain | 🌧️ 90% | 💨 SE 6 mph

Bellingham Bay Tides

Day	Time	H/L	FT
Mon	4:53 AM	H	8.65
Mon	10:55 AM	L	5.84
Mon	2:09 PM	H	6.90
Mon	9:50 PM	L	-0.06
Tue	5:25 AM	H	8.69
Tue	11:18 AM	L	5.23
Tue	3:27 PM	H	6.92
Tue	10:35 PM	L	0.23

Moon Phases

Weather & Tides from NOAA. Moon data astronomyapi.

Events, Updates & News Around Town

Get off the Hamster Wheel

2025 Stewardship Class Offers Path to Park Steward Role

This looks like so much fun!!! 🙂 The Koma Kulshan Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society (WNPS), in partnership with the City of Bellingham, is hosting its 5th Stewardship Class. This no-cost, 6-week program, running from April 17 to May 22, explores the native plants and ecosystems of the Salish Sea region through 30 hours of classroom sessions and field trips. Topics include plant identification, wildlife habitats, and restoration skills, with field trips to sites like Stimpson Preserve and Tennant Lake.

Completing the course earns participants the title of WNPS Native Plant Steward and opens the door to becoming a Bellingham Park Steward. The Bellingham Parks Volunteer Program connects stewards with parklands, trails, and greenways, where they can perform duties like litter pickup, invasive plant removal, and native planting. Download the Stewardship Class application form on the WNPS website, and learn more about the Bellingham Park Steward Program.

BTC Receives $600,000 Boost for Student Support

Bellingham Technical College (BTC) has received a $600,000 donation from the Whatcom Community Foundation to enhance student financial literacy and stability. The funds, originally bequeathed to the foundation by the Follis Knight family, were directed to BTC due to the college’s alignment with the donors’ values of education access and financial empowerment. The donation will support new initiatives aimed at helping students navigate financial challenges during and after their studies.

BTC plans to use the gift to create a dedicated staff position focused on financial education and resource connections and establish a financial wellness hub. This hub will expand the student food pantry, provide basic needs supplies, and serve as a central point for campus and community resources. “We are so grateful for this generous gift and the immense benefits it will provide to our students,” said BTC President James Lemerond, noting that it will help ensure students can access and complete transformative education programs.

In other news…

Last week, Kulshan Community Land Trust broke ground on their LaFreniere Court development in the Birchwood neighborhood. Officials from the City, which has committed $800,000 to the project, participated in the ceremony.

This project infills 18 permanently affordable standalone homes using the land trust’s model in which they retain ownership of the land, but sell the homes to lower and middle-income families. Home value appreciation is capped at 1.5% annually to ensure affordability for downstream purchasers.

🏙️ The Bellingham City Council meets today (March 10) at 1 PM, with the Regular Meeting at 3 PM. You can review the agenda online. This public meeting is held in the Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall or watch online. This council will discuss proposed updates to the city’s multi-family tax exemption program. This program aims to incentivize multi-family housing production by helping make them financially viable and incentivize a mix of affordable and market-rate housing for already financially viable projects. The agenda packet includes interesting details about the research and findings used to justify the program.

🚜 The Whatcom County Council meets tomorrow (March 11) at 9:00 AM, with the committee of the whole meeting at 6 PM in the Council Chambers at the County Courthouse or watch via Zoom. You can review the agenda online.

Food & Drinks

Hamsters Gotta Eat

Monday Food Trucks
A Que Tacos @ Goods Local Brews
Burnt Side Down @ Stemma Brewery
Calcutta by Simmering Tava @ K2
El Tapatio @ 4124 Strider Loop Rd
Falafel Feast @ 4370 Meridian St
Luchadora @ Wander Brewing
Outpost Eats @ Kulshan Brewery (James St.)
Tacos El Tule @ West Marine (Meridian St)
Tezpoteco Taco @ Stemma Brewery

Tuesday Food Trucks
A Que Tacos @ Goods Local Brews
Burnt Side Down @ Stemma Brewery
Calcutta by Simmering Tava @ K2
El Pollo Feo @ Kulshan Brewery (Roosevelt K2)
El Tapatio @ 4124 Strider Loop Rd
Falafel Feast @ 4370 Meridian St
Galley 2 Go @ Stones Throw Brewery
Luchadora @ Wander Brewing
Outpost Eats @ Kulshan Brewery (James St. K1)
Tacos El Tule @ West Marine (Meridian St)
Tam Tam Pizza @ Fringe Brewing
Tezpoteco Taco @ Stemma Brewery
The Galley @ Ponderosa Beer + Books

Test Your Knowledge

Bellingham & Whatcom Trivia

What Whatcom/Skagit Photographer took this iconic photo of a cedar stump house in Edgecomb Wa in 1901?

The correct answer to the last question: “What was the name of the first park in Whatcom County?” was Walnut Street Park.

In 1884, Captain Henry Roeder, an early settler of Bellingham Bay, donated 4.5 acres of his land between Washington and Madison Streets to the town of Whatcom. Initially known as Walnut Street Park, it served as an informal public space until 1912, when it was officially named Elizabeth Park in honor of Roeder’s wife, Mary Elizabeth Austin Roeder.

Development of the park began modestly. In 1897, the New Whatcom City Council funded tree planting by an out-of-town nursery. Dynamite was used to open the earth for planting and the effort failed. The space remained an open field used for baseball until 1901, when the Ladies Cooperative Society raised funds to landscape it and build a bandstand.

On September 11, 1901, the Adams Military Band performed the park’s first concert to fund bandstand maintenance. In 1905, Park Commissioner Roland G. Gamwell oversaw a major redesign, adding a 250-foot-long meandering lake and winding paths, completing the park’s early transformation.

The park continued to evolve over the 20th century. In 1910, the Haller Fountain, donated by Seattle’s G. Morris Estate, was installed in the lake.

In the 1980s, the lake was filled in, a new bandstand was constructed based on historical images, and the restored fountain returned in 1989. A playground was added in the 1990s.

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Performance Arts This Week

Dance of The Hamsters

THEATRE - DANCE - FILM

BAAY Theatre:
Beetlejuice Jr. | Fri, Sat 7 PM; Sat, Sun 2 PM

BAAY Theatre:
Snoring Beauty | Sat, Sun 11 AM

iDiOM Theater:
Serial Killers | Sat 7 & 9 PM

Mount Baker Theatre:
Dragons & Mythical Beasts | Sun 3 PM

The Claire:
Lion King Youth Production | Fri, Sat 7 PM; Fri, Sat, Sun2 PM

COMEDY

Nacho Problems:
Nacho Average Comedy Open Mic | Thurs 8:30 PM

Uisce Irish Pub
Guffawingham | Mon 8:30 PM

PARTICIPATORY DANCE

Bachata : WWU Salsa and Bachata Club @ Viking Union MPR | Mon 7 PM
Tango : Urban Salon Tango @ The Majestic Ballroom | Mon 7 PM
Swing : B’ham Hop @ Hotel Leo Crystal Ballroom | Tues 7 PM
Cuban Salsa : Beginning Cuban Salsa @ Cof& | Tues 6 PM
Cuban Salsa : Intermediate Cuban Salsa @ Cof& | Tues 7:15 PM
Scottish Country : Scottish Dancing Workshops @ Fairhaven Library | Wed 7 PM
Tango : Tango Practica @ The Majestic Ballroom | Wed 6:30 PM
Party : Emo Therapy @ Wild Buffalo | Thurs 9 PM
Bachata : Bham Bachata @ ‘ONO Kitchen & Bar | Thurs 7:30 PM
Social Partner Dance : Flow Fusion @ Karate Church | Thurs 7 PM
Line Dancing : Country Night @ Bar 211 | Fri 8 PM
Party : St Pat's House @ Wild Buffalo | Sat 8:30 PM
Party : Digital Kiss @ Blue Room | Sat 11 PM
Party : Bad Bunny Party @ Bar 211 | Sat 10 PM
Salsa : The Salsa Collective @ The Majestic Ballroom | Sun 5:30 PM

Help Spread The Word

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Music & Nightlife

Spinning Into The Night

Monday Games & Trivia
Trivia Night @ Ono Kitchen & Bar | 7 PM
Trivia Night @ Paws for a Beer | 6:15 PM
Trivia Night @ Zeeks Pizza & Fountain Brewing | 6 PM
Trivia Night @ Overflow Taps | 6:30 PM

Hakuna matata

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Have a great Monday!!