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🐹 Sawdust Collective 🪚🪚

🐹 Sawdust Collective 🪚🪚

April 16, 2025

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

It’s mid-week and the weather keeps getting better… I don’t want to jinx anything but Friday temps might rise into the high sixties. 🎉😁 Keeping our fingers crossed.

Have fun, and stay safe out there!

~ Val & Evan

Nature, Community, Sasquatch, UAP

Photos From the Hoods

Seagull with Starfish - 📷 by Mary Patrick

Marine Park - 📷 by Darby @dinodarbz

The Sleeping Giant - 📷 by Sara Yorkston

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

Mount Baker Foundation

Share Your Spare

May 4th at the Squalicum Boathouse

The Mount Baker Foundation invites you to the 3rd annual Share Your Spare lunch on May 4th, where you will be inspired by a panel of medical experts, donors, and recipients as they share the life-changing power of living kidney donation. Among them is Shane Cleveland, who generously donated his kidney to NBA star Nate Robinson, saying, "It's a very doable thing, I just want to make the kind of world I want to live in.” His wife, Kara, who will also be on the forum panel, donated one of her kidneys in 2011.

Our moonshot goal? End Whatcom County’s kidney waitlist. Every kidney donated saves a life—you could be the neighbor who throws that lifeline.

Weather Forecast

Wednesday: 64°F 🌡️ 43°F | ☀️ Sunny | 🌧️ 0% | 💨 N 1 to 9 mph

Thursday: 65°F 🌡️ 43°F | ☀️ Sunny | 🌧️ 0% | 💨 N 3 to 7 mph

Moon Phases

Events, Updates & News Around Town

Get off the Hamster Wheel

Sunnyland Sawdust Collective +1

We had a very special opportunity this week to visit a beautiful workshop in the Sunnyland Neighborhood, home to the Sunnyland Sawdust Collective, a shared woodworking space where a lovely group of independent tradespersons share a passion for woodwork, a gorgeous space to work in, and access to cabinet shop quality tools.

It's become a theme in our adventures around Bellingham. Pulling up to a nondescript metal building tucked away in a mixed-use neighborhood, only to open the doors and find an extraordinary environment inside, filled with the rich colors, smells, and sounds of artful creation.

Founding member Ant Chapin, and Keri Bean who runs an interior design business from the space, toured us through the workshop where members worked on projects of all sizes, from tap handles and rocking chairs to a full set of custom kitchen cabinets. We snapped a few photos on our tour. 👇️

As we prepared to leave, Ant mentioned that one member of the collective was moving on to new adventures, making a dedicated bench available for an independent woodworker to join the group. Email [email protected] if you’d like to learn more, and check out a few current members: @heatherdoeswood, Bird’s Nest Design, Carpenter Ant, Nesting Instincts.

Being Human Isn’t For The Faint of Heart

We’re busy, distracted, and often too overwhelmed to even glance at the emotional clutter piling up in the corners of our lives. Fire and Moss Embodiment offers workshops that invite us to pause, breathe, and face the hard stuff with compassion, curiosity, and maybe even a little joy.

Upcoming classes include:

Shapes of Grief (April 17th and June 26th)
Grief comes in many forms, and this gentle workshop embraces them all. Through guided movement, song, meditation, and shared moments, it offers a supportive space to explore and honor your grief, whether it’s fresh or long-held. Details and registration.

Comic & Soul (May 16-18)
A joyful workshop blending dance, art, story, and song to ignite aliveness and humor, even in tough times. No experience needed—just bring your unique self for a vibrant, heartfelt experience that celebrates the full spectrum of being human. Details and registration.

Both workshops cultivate creativity, vulnerability and connection. A little messy, a little magical—and exactly what many of us need.

In other news…

📰 Local Read: The Northern Light newspaper in Baine published this interesting article about the push to create a community hub focused on environmental sustainability, education, workforce development and growth of the marine economy. This marine center at Blaine Harbor would be called MERIS (Marine, Economic and Research Institute for Sustainability).

🏔️ Bellingham Parks & Recreation will host guest speaker Ken Harrison tomorrow from 7 to 9 pm at Old City Hall’s Rotunda Room, to share his travelogue Hiking The Medieval Villages of Georgia and the Caucasus Mountains.

Known for its stunning stone hamlets, lush valleys dotted with wildflowers, and rugged trails along rushing rivers, Svaneti offers a glimpse into a timeless landscape that’s only recently opened to global travelers after years of instability. This sounds like an amazing presentation. Find details here.

Food & Drinks

Hamsters Gotta Eat

Sun, April 20
Easter Brunch at Hotel Leo

An Easter brunch buffet like no other, with live music from Jovino Santos Neto and a festive buffet lineup—coconut chicken thighs, broiled salmon plank, prime sirloin roast, and all your brunch favorites.

Test Your Knowledge

Bellingham & Whatcom Trivia

In 1886, first route along present-day Guide Meridian Road was surfaced with what material?

The correct answer to the last question: “What event in 1859 prompted Bellingham's Capt. George E. Pickett to lead 64 men to San Juan Island in defiance of the British?” was the The shooting of a pig.

In 1859, a border dispute over the San Juan Islands, fueled by ambiguity in the 1846 Oregon Treaty, led to a standoff between British and American troops. The treaty set the U.S.-British boundary through the “middle of the channel” between Vancouver Island and the mainland, but two straits—Haro and Rosario—caused confusion, with both nations claiming the islands. Tensions rose when American farmer Lyman Cutlar shot a Hudson’s Bay Company pig rooting in his garden on June 15, 1859. This took place on the disputed San Juan Island.

American Camp, circa 1868 - 📸 NPS

Capt. George Pickett, stationed in Bellingham, soon arrived with 64 soldiers of the 9th U.S. Infantry to protect American settlers, setting up what would become American Camp 👆️ near the island's south end. The British would eventually respond with 2,140 men, 5 warships, and 70 cannons, forming British Camp 👇️ on the north of the island.

The standoff, dubbed The Pig War, saw no human casualties and was resolved peacefully through arbitration in 1872, when Kaiser Wilhelm I (who was chosen to act as arbitrator) awarded the islands to the U.S., setting the boundary through Haro Strait. Joint military occupation lasted 12 years, with British and American troops sharing an amicable coexistence—celebrating holidays together and organizing athletic competitions.

Performance Arts This Week

Dance of The Hamsters

THEATRE - DANCE - FILM

BAAY Theatre:
Out of the Woods | Fri, Sat 7 pm; Sat, Sun 2 pm

Bellingham Theatre Guild:
Play On! | Thurs, Fri, Sat 7:30 pm; Sun 2 pm

FireHouse Arts & Events Center:
Bellingham Repertory Dance: If Not Now | Fri 7:30 pm; Sat 5:30 pm

iDiOM Theater:
Heroes of the Fourth Turning | Thurs, Fri, Sat 7:30 pm

New Prospect Theatre:
New Play Cafe | Fri, Sat, Sun 7:00 pm

WWU College of Fine and Performing Arts:
Untitled Othello Project | Fri, Sat 7:30 pm; Sat 2pm

COMEDY

Corner Taphouse:
Southside Comedy Hour | Fri 8 pm

Greene's Corner:
Comedy Open Mic | Wed 7 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
Tango : Tango Practica @ The Majestic Ballroom | Wed 6:30 pm
Party : Show Me Your Horns @ Shakedown | Wed 9 pm
Bachata : Bham Bachata @ ‘ONO Kitchen & Bar | Thurs 7:30 pm
Social Partner Dance : Flow Fusion @ Karate Church | Thurs 7 pm
Belly Dance : Baby-Wearing Belly Dance@ Boom Elite Martial Arts | Thurs 9:30 am
Party : Y2K Overdrive @ BlueRoom | Fri 9 pm
Party : Bad Bunny @ Wild Buffalo | Sat 9 pm
Silent Disco : Sunset Silent Disco @ Zuanich Point Park | Sat 7 pm
Belly Dance : Belly Dance Fusion @ Bellingham Senior Center | Sat 10:30 am
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

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Hakuna matata

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Have a great Wednesday!!