With Halloween and a nail-biting presidential election just around the corner, it seems like a swell time to explore fall-focused imbibing options. You’ll be supporting local businesses, while at the same time getting a buzz that just may help you forget the horrors of the last four years. For the sake of brevity, the following list focuses on venues in downtown Bellingham.

At Aslan Brewing (1330 N. Forest St.) warm up with seasonal sippers such as Simcoe Slice and Charlie Foxtrot…

The haloed sun crept silently behind a black mass of jagged peaks and as early shadows dimmed the hillside I aimed the antenna of my two-way radio toward the nearest repeater tower and engaged the talk button.

“Hand crew to Krassel Work Center on channel two,” I said, taking care to enunciate each word as per Forest Service protocol.

Counting to 10 and receiving no response, I re-aimed my antenna and repeated my transmission verbatim.

Finally, the speaker buzzed sharply and…

Greeting visitors at the recently reanimated Jansen Art Center’s entrance is an emblem of the moment—an orange and yellow “virus” by David Syre in the Jansen’s Fall Juried Exhibit. He’s the creator of several other striking works, including “Bee Attack,” in colored marker on cotton paper.

Elsewhere in the sprawling space in Lynden, Skagit artist Gene Jaress’ dramatic “On the Horizon” (oil on canvas) dominates the east hallway. In the piano room, you’ll find his woodblock print, “Red…

In early 2019, Liz Lovelett joined the ranks of the Washington State Senate, stepping up from her role as an Anacortes City Council member, and taking along her signature passion for climate action.

The environmental and social issues facing her district and state are challenging. Lovelett focuses on the big picture:

“Like all parents, I’ve tried to balance school, work and health concerns in these difficult times,” she said. “With so many local families struggling…

To prepare for his role as a news reporter observing the destruction of mankind via an alien attack, actor Frank Readick listened, over and over, to a recording of Herbert Morrison’s radio report of the deadly Hindenburg disaster. Morrison had been on site when the airship went up in flames the prior year, and was broadcasting from the landing field at the time of the calamity.

This disturbing form of research came in handy when Readick joined director and narrator Orson Welles for a…

The Whatcom County Health Department didn’t mince words in a recent press release urging community members to dial down their freak-day festivities in light of rising coronavirus cases here and throughout the United States—especially since numbers typically spike after a holiday.

“Pumpkin carving, decorating our homes, and wearing costumes are all great ways to celebrate Halloween,” they said. “But one thing we don’t want to bring into our celebration is COVID-19. Halloween will look…

As I have established already, I’m not really a team player when it comes to Halloween. But even though I may not take the field, I’m more than happy to sport the team colors and cheer folks on from the sidelines. On a typical Halloween, I’m fond of eschewing my typical uniform of head-to-toe black in favor of an orange sweater, which I then take out on the town for a rock show and some rubbernecking at the creative and colorful costumes of those who go all out.

This year,…

It used to be that when someone would livestream their music it would barely register on my radar of must-see music. I’m not casting aspersions on the livestreamers of yore—in hindsight, they were ahead of their time—it’s more that with such an abundance of live music to be seen in real life, livestreams seemed to be geared more toward granting access to music for people who weren’t able to leave the house for one reason or another.

Hello, 2020.

It also used to be that when…