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🐹 Sourdough Mountain 🔥🔥

🐹 Sourdough Mountain 🔥🔥

April 02, 2025

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

Have you driven over the Squalicum Creek bridge on Eldridge lately and glanced out at the old Olympic Portland Cement Company pier? It’s finally taking shape as a public open-water experience on the bay. It’s nice to see these kinds of projects prioritized in the northern neighborhoods. We’re excited for the walkway to open!!

Have fun, and stay safe out there!

~ Val & Evan

Nature, Community, Sasquatch, UAP

Photos From the Hoods

Family at Waypoint Park Beach - 📷 by Cat

Salish Sea from the Air - 📷 by Ginger Oppenheimer

Blue Heron at Boulevard Park - 📷 by Russell Stolzoff

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

Mount Baker Foundation

Share Your Spare: Living Kidney Donation Event

May 4th, 2025

Living kidney donation offers a life-changing alternative to dialysis, allowing a healthy person to donate a kidney and drastically reducing the typical 3-4 year wait for a transplant. This rewarding act gives recipients a new lease on life, and donors experience the true joy of making a difference.

Join the Mount Baker Foundation for the Share Your Spare lunch, where local donors, recipients, and medical experts will share inspiring personal stories and insights into the donation process. Learn about MBF's goal to eliminate Whatcom County's transplant waitlist and how you can make a difference.

Don't miss this opportunity to connect, be inspired, and help create change!

Weather Forecast

Wednesday: 52°F 🌡️ 38°F | 🌧️ Light Rain Likely | 🌧️ 50% | 💨 SSW 7 mph

Thursday: 55°F 🌡️ 38°F | ☀️ Sunny | 🌧️ 0% | 💨 WSW 1 to 5 mph

Bellingham Bay Tides

Day	Time	H/L	FT
Wed	2:23 AM	L	5.46
Wed	7:30 AM	H	8.45
Wed	3:01 PM	L	-1.81
Wed	10:51 PM	H	8.05
Thu	3:26 AM	L	6.18
Thu	8:04 AM	H	8.05
Thu	3:56 PM	L	-1.52

Moon Phases

Events, Updates & News Around Town

Get off the Hamster Wheel

Home Inspiration at the Lynden Fairgrounds

This weekend is the 44th Annual Whatcom County Home & Lifestyle Show at the Northwest Washington Fair & Event Center in Lynden. This event, the largest home show north of Seattle—features over 250 exhibitors showcasing home improvement trends, design inspiration, and local industry connections.

As a passionate remodeler, I dork out hard at these events. 😛 I’ll be checking out the modular ADU from West Coast Homes (such a brilliant idea), and stopping by all the local business exhibits.

This isn’t the home show you suffered through as a kid while your mom picked through tile samples. It’s packed full of activities. Highlights include the Pacific Northwest BBQ Association’s Ribs & Roofs BBQ Competition, Food Truck Roundup , LEGO Building Competition, Gnome Scavenger Hunt, live music, cooking demos, and educational seminars.

Additional attractions include HGTV’s Unsellable Houses twins Lindsay Lamb and Leslie Davis, gardening expert Ciscoe Morris “Oh, la la!,” 👇️ a Reptile Show, and kids’ activities like a drop-in woodshop.

The show runs Friday to Sunday, 10 AM to 6 PM, with BBQ sampling on Saturday (11 AM–5 PM) and Sunday (2 PM–5 PM), while supplies last. Proceeds from the BBQ support the Pathways to the Trades Scholarship Fund and Woodworking for Kids. Details.

In other news…

🏃‍♀️ The Trail Running Film Festival, a global tour celebrating the spirit of trail running and independent filmmaking, arrives in Bellingham tomorrow (April 3), at 7:00 PM at the Firehouse Arts Center. Hosted by Aspire Adventure Running, the event features six short films with a 90-minute total runtime.

A project of Outdoor Arts & Recreation, a Washington State nonprofit, the festival aims to celebrate running as a universal practice for exploring human potential and pursuing dreams. By documenting trail running culture, supporting filmmakers, and hosting community events, it promotes inclusivity, adventure, wilderness, art, and diversity within the trail and ultra-running community. Tickets.

📚️ Yesterday, the Bellingham Public Library Board of Trustees and Whatcom Community Foundation launched a $3.5 million fundraising campaign to renovate the Central Library’s ground floor. They posted a sweet video about the campaign on YouTube. 👇️

The Central Library, which serves over 500,000 visits per year, will upgrade its children’s department and relocate the teen space to create modern, safe, ADA-accessible areas. They note that $1.4 million is already raised, and a donor will match new 2025 gifts up to $100,000 throughout the remainder of the year. Donations can be made here.

I also want to take a moment to recognize the amazing staff a the Central Library. Our librarians keep thoughtful literature flowing through our community and manage a public space that’s increasingly relied upon for daytime shelter. Hats off to the library staff who balance these demands with compassion and grace.

Food & Drinks

Hamsters Gotta Eat

Test Your Knowledge

Bellingham & Whatcom Trivia

What was the name of the first pulp mill in Bellingham that would one day become the Georgia-Pacific pulp mill?

The correct answer to the last question: “At what Whatcom County fire lookout was Beat Generation poet Gary Snyder stationed in the summer of 1953?” was Sourdough Mountain Lookout.

Perched atop Sourdough Mountain in North Cascades National Park, the Sourdough Mountain Lookout was originally established as one of the nation’s first fire lookout sites in 1917, with the current cabin constructed in 1933 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The 15’ by 15’ structure, built on a rock foundation with shiplap siding and a wood-shingled hip roof, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Gary Snyder was born in 1930 in San Francisco and grew up in the Pacific Northwest. A Pulitzer Prize winner for his 1974 collection Turtle Island, Snyder blended environmentalism, Zen Buddhism, and indigenous perspectives in his poetry. In the summer of 1953, he worked as a fire lookout at Sourdough Mountain, an experience that inspired poems like “Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout,” capturing the experience of summer alone in the cascades.

Ownership of the lookout was transferred to the National Park Service in the late 1960s when North Cascades National Park was created. Though no longer in regular use, the cabin is occasionally utilized by park employees and remains a popular destination for hikers.

Carpet Care Cleaners

Bellingham's Premier Carpet Cleaning Service

Local & Family-Owned Since 2003

Hi friends, I’m Gavin Green. 👋 For over 20 years, my crew at Carpet Care Cleaners and I have been cleaning carpets across Whatcom County, treating every home like it’s our own.

We use the best techniques—no shortcuts—just solid, quality work to get your carpets truly clean. Customers keep calling us back, not just for the results, but because they trust us.

Whether it’s a quick refresh or stubborn stains, I’m here to help!

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Performance Arts This Week

Dance of The Hamsters

THEATRE - DANCE - FILM

BAAY Theatre:
Farewell to the Hundred Acre Wood | Fri, Sat 7 PM; Sat, Sun 2 PM

Bellingham Theatre Guild:
Play On! | Fri, Sat 7 PM; Sun 2 PM

FireHouse Arts & Events Center:
Trail Running Film Festival | Thur 7 PM

iDiOM Theater:
Serial Killers | Sat 7 & 9 PM

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

Pacific Northwest Opera:
Rusalka | Fri 7:30 PM; Sun 1:30 PM

COMEDY

Greene's Corner:
Comedy Open Mic | Wed 7 PM

PARTICIPATORY DANCE

Tango : Tango Practica @ The Majestic Ballroom | Wed 6:30 PM
Bachata : Bham Bachata @ ‘ONO Kitchen & Bar | Thurs 7:30 PM
Social Partner Dance : Flow Fusion @ Karate Church | Thurs 7 PM
Belly Dance : Babywearing Belly Dance @ Boom Elite Martial Arts | Thurs 9:30 AM
Party : Dance Romance @ Wild Buffalo | Fri 8:30 PM
Party : Crank That @ Wild Buffalo | Sat 9 PM
Line Dancing : Boot Scootin Fun’Raiser @ Firehouse A&E Center | Sat 2 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

Hakuna matata

To All Our Readers

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Have a great Wednesday!!