Bellingham Alive

Bellingham Alive Local magazine celebrating our community, our people, and our lifestyle in Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan!

Local magazine celebrating our community, our people, and our lifestyle in Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan Counties.

Haircutting is a delicate craft. It takes a person who can connect with their client—someone who knows just how importan...
11/17/2025

Haircutting is a delicate craft. It takes a person who can connect with their client—someone who knows just how important a fresh cut can be. That’s where Aminah Roe fits into the picture. She’s been cutting hair for more than 10 years, and these days her clippers lie inside the Fit Evo gym on Iowa Street. Despite the unconventional location of her shop, Midtown Barber (AminahLadybarber), she’d have it no other way. 💈✂️

“Being one-on-one in a shop at first, I was intimidated because I was used to working in a shop with tons of barbers [where] everyone is interrupting each other,” says Roe. “Then I realized a lot of people actually don’t mind—they like being one-on-one. I can actually get to know the person [and] their style.”

Read more about Aminah Roe and her journey to becoming an award-winning barber here: https://bellinghamalive.com/lifestyle/a-journey-through-hair-cutting-aminah-roe-midtown-barber/

Written by Logan Schreiber
Photographs courtesy of Aminah Roe

Brace against the winter chill and settle into the coziness of soup season with these warming, hearty favorites from aro...
11/14/2025

Brace against the winter chill and settle into the coziness of soup season with these warming, hearty favorites from around the North Sound. Whether you like a bowl or a cup, chunky or smooth, light or rich, there’s a soup for you! 🍲

Written by Chloe Nelson
Photograph by Kristen Boehm

I first met Indira Rouw through my local Buy Nothing group—she’d put out a call for sturdy grocery bags, and my cupboard...
11/12/2025

I first met Indira Rouw through my local Buy Nothing group—she’d put out a call for sturdy grocery bags, and my cupboard was overflowing, so I popped over to her downtown Mount Vernon office with my arms full. I expected to have to explain myself to the person at the front desk, but the minute I opened the front door I saw the piles: grocery bags, yes, but also blankets and sleeping bags, which Rouw was collecting for homeless youth. This was clearly more than a one-off call for donations; it was an ongoing commitment to improving the lives of others.

As a longtime agent with Farmers Insurance, Rouw has decades of experience helping her community with financial protections like life, auto, and homeowners insurance. But she’s also deeply involved in volunteering for local organizations and events, along with her kids.

Read more about Indira and the wonderful work her family has done for the community: https://bellinghamalive.com/lifestyle/a-family-legacy-of-giving-back-indira-rouw/

Written by Anne Godenham
Photographs courtesy of Indira Rouw

Thank you to all who have served.♥️
11/11/2025

Thank you to all who have served.♥️

Sofie Hynes has been an independent jeweler in Bellingham for around three decades, and her business, Sofie’s Goldmine, ...
11/10/2025

Sofie Hynes has been an independent jeweler in Bellingham for around three decades, and her business, Sofie’s Goldmine, operated in a repurposed gas station on State Street for the last 19 years. In late August, Sofie’s moved to a bottom-floor storefront in the Hotel Leo building on Cornwall Avenue. 💎

Read more about Sofie’s Goldmine’s new space here: https://bellinghamalive.com/lifestyle/trusted-local-jeweler-opens-in-new-location-sofies-goldmine/

Written and photographed by Kristen Boehm

In May, Bellingham staple Old World Deli re-opened its doors after a month-long renovation. While it may be the same bus...
11/07/2025

In May, Bellingham staple Old World Deli re-opened its doors after a month-long renovation. While it may be the same business inside the same building, Owner Chris Adams is determined to bring a new, more refined approach to the shop. After visiting delis across New York, Los Angeles, and even Japan, he decided it was time to make some changes. 🥪

“After seeing all that, I was kind of like, ‘You know what? We need to move this deli forward,'” says Adams. “It’s been 18 years, and honestly, you either refresh in these environments or you can fall away by the wayside.”

Read more about Old World Deli’s recent transformation here: https://bellinghamalive.com/dine/same-old-world-brand-new-ideas-old-world-deli/

Written by Aidan Hadley
Photographs courtesy of Jesse Dooghan

Bellingham’s poetry scene has been quietly brewing for decades, with writers’ groups, kitchen table readings, open mics,...
11/05/2025

Bellingham’s poetry scene has been quietly brewing for decades, with writers’ groups, kitchen table readings, open mics, and acclaimed poets making an occasional splash. THIS WEEKEND, Nov. 7–9, the inaugural Salish Sea Poetry Festival hopes to bring poetry front-and-center. 📝

Read more about the creation of the Salish Sea Poetry Festival and everything it has to offer here: https://bellinghamalive.com/lifestyle/bringing-poetry-to-the-people-salish-sea-poetry-festival/

Written by Kristen Boehm
Photographs courtesy of Salish Sea Poetry Festival

Enter to win a $50 gift certificate to enjoy enchiladas, tacos, tequila, and more Mexican staples at COA mexican eatery ...
11/04/2025

Enter to win a $50 gift certificate to enjoy enchiladas, tacos, tequila, and more Mexican staples at COA mexican eatery & Tequileria! 🌮🥃

Learn more and enter our November giveaway here: https://bellinghamalive.com/enter-to-win/

Late summer, off the island now called Lummi, you’ll see reef net gear out on the water. There were once hundreds of act...
11/03/2025

Late summer, off the island now called Lummi, you’ll see reef net gear out on the water. There were once hundreds of active reef nets sites throughout the straits, though now there are only about a dozen in use. Originally, canoes—not metal platforms—went out with the nets, and the fishing technology was interwoven with social, cultural, and spiritual systems. The reef net is unique to the Northern Straits Salish peoples, and is one of the oldest, most advanced, and most sustainable net fishing systems in the world.

Artist and scholar Xwesultun Raven Borsey is in the process of working on “Reefnetters of the Salish Sea,” bringing fuller context and the voices of reef net families and their culture keepers to noted anthropologist Wayne Suttle’s unfinished manuscript.

Read Julie’s excerpted conversation with Raven here: https://bellinghamalive.com/lifestyle/since-time-immemorial-sxwole-or-the-reef-net/

Interview with Xwesultun Raven Borsey by Julie Trimingham - Writer
“Nilh-le xwenang alhe tí’le Xw’otqwem” (“This is how it was here in Whatcom”) mural by Raven Borsey, Free Borsey, and Roy Nicol, located on the side of the new Children of the Setting Sun Productions building at 210 W. Holly St., Bellingham.

The Buy Nothing Project first began in Bainbridge Island with two friends, Rebecca Rockefeller and Liesl Clark. After ve...
11/01/2025

The Buy Nothing Project first began in Bainbridge Island with two friends, Rebecca Rockefeller and Liesl Clark. After venturing through the Kitsap Peninsula, they were unhappy with the amount of waste they saw polluting the beach and decided to take action. Determined to make a change, they spent years collecting and identifying plastics they found in their community, eventually discovering that much of the waste comes from everyday products.

In an effort to reduce plastic waste in their environment, they founded the Buy Nothing Project. They created the first group in 2013, describing it as an “experimental, hyper-local gift economy.” In the 12 years since, Buy Nothing has blown up around the world, with groups spanning across 44 different nations.

Read more about the Buy Nothing Project and how to get started here: https://bellinghamalive.com/shop/give-something-with-buy-nothing-buy-nothing/

Written by Aidan Hadley

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