Deck the Old City Hall with Classic Carols!
2023-12-10 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Denver) | WA
Listen to your favorite holiday songs as you explore the Old City Hall art and history galleries and view more than a dozen Christmas trees decorated by Bellingham organizations and community groups! Presented by the students of the Heather Brooke Bates Music Studio.
121 Prospect Street
Admission by donation

New Year's Eve Balloon Drop
2023-12-31 15:00 - 16:00
This New Year’s Eve, no need to make it to midnight! Celebrate at the Family Interactive Gallery (FIG) at the Whatcom Museum where we’ll ring in the new year with a countdown and balloon drop at 4 p.m. Children (and grown-ups!) can create their own party hats in the Art Studio, then capture the moment in our photo booth.
On December 31, the FIG will be open from 12 – 5 p.m.; 4 p.m. balloon drop.

Free First Fridays at the Whatcom Museum!
2024-02-02 11:00 - 21:00
NEW in 2024!
Enjoy FREE admission at both museum buildings, EXTENDED hours, and FREE programming every First Friday of the month at the Whatcom Museum!
In February, we’re celebrating the reopening of the People of the Sea and Cedar exhibition in the Lightcatcher building, which honors the culture, art, and enduring contributions of Lummi Nation and Nooksack Tribe. This Free First Friday, explore the newly reinterpreted and expanded gallery and join us in welcoming local Lummi violinist and storyteller Swil Kanim and the Blackhawk Singers to the museum.
Visit our website to see the full day’s programming and start times:
http://tinyurl.com/Feb-FFF
Access for All Free First Fridays are made possibly by generous support from the Art Bridges Foundation.

Silva Cascadia: Under the Spell of the Forest Exhibition Opening
2024-02-03 15:00 - 17:00
Join us at the Museum of Northwest Art on Saturday, February 3 for the public opening of the exhibition Silva Cascadia: Under the Spell of the Forest from 3-5 pm. See the work of twelve Northwest women artists on trees and forests, that ripples out into themes of science and environmentalism, history, art practice, and spiritualism.
Learn more: https://www.monamuseum.org/events/silvacascadia-opening
Questions? Email marketing@museumofnwart.org
Image Credit: Patty Haller, From Samish to Lummi, 2022, oil on panel, 32×62 inches

Visible Mending Workshop with Ragfinery
2024-02-10 11:00 - 13:00
Ragfinery is delighted to present this Visible Mending Workshop in collaboration with the Whatcom Museum. Whether you’re a novice or an experienced fiber artist, join us to explore the basic principles of visible mending and practice sashiko-style stitching. Mending is at the core of Ragfinery’s mission of waste diversion, inspiring us to cherish and extend the life of our textiles. Secure your spot for a day of learning, inspiration, and hands-on exploration in Ragfinery and the Whatcom Museum’s shared vision for a more mindful and sustainable future.
$20 museum members / $25 non-members; limited to 15 participants
Purchase tickets:
https://bit.ly/3vwYcad
This workshop is part of the Whatcom Museum’s ‘healing and repair’ series, the theme of the Bellingham National exhibition, on view through February 25.

Whatcom Museum Gala: Archival Revival
2024-09-13 17:30 - 21:00
Cocktail hour courtesy of Chuckanut Bay Distillery, Kulshan Brewing, and Lone Birch Winery.
Live music by The Unknowns.
Dinner with locally sourced ingredients from Simply Sound Catering.
Performances by The Upfront Theatre, Swil Kanim, Julie Trimingham, and ¡Casineros del Parque!
Be a part of the revitalization of Old Fire Station No. 1, home to the Whatcom Museum’s archives! Your support will help fund the continued preservation of more than 200,000 images as we relocate them to a temperature-controlled wing and reopen the front of the building to the public with new exhibitions and improved archive access. Gala tickets and silent auction sales also directly support our exhibitions, programming, and educational experiences. Please join us to celebrate the arts – and history – that weave our community together.
Tickets and details online.

Classic Carols
2024-12-15 14:00 - 15:00
Enjoy the splendor of Old City Hall, festooned in its holiday finest, while listening to your favorite holiday songs sung by the students of the Brooke Bates Music Studio.
Admission to Old City Hall is by donation through the month of December.

January Free First Friday at the Whatcom Museum
2025-01-03 12:00 - 21:00
Start the year off small with the Whatcom Museum! After a busy holiday season, join us at the Museum for a day of miniature crafts. Make your own wee world with like Shrinky Dinks and sculpting tiny clay masterpieces to making mini mugs, bags, and even plants. We’ll also celebrate miniature trains and railways with a pop-up wTrak Modular Wood Railway in the Family Interactive Gallery, perfect for kids to play with. We’d love to see you as we launch another year of Free First Friday programming!
Visit our whatcommuseum.org for all details, times, and building locations.
TRAK MODULAR WOODEN RAILWAY AT THE FAMILY INTERACTIVE GALLERY
The Lightcatcher | 250 Flora St. | Friday AND Saturday
BABY & TODDLER MUSIC CLASSES WITH LITTLE SAPLING MUSIC
The Lightcatcher | 250 Flora St. | 10:30 – 11 am, 11 – 11:30 am & 11:30 am – noon
TINY CLAY SCULPTURES WITH EMILY CAREY
The Lightcatcher | 250 Flora St. | 1 – 3 pm
DOCENT TOURS OF THOMAS WOOD: UNDER THE INSPIRATION TREE
The Lightcatcher | 250 Flora St. | 1 pm & 6 pm
PINT-SIZED PLANTS WITH CHIEF CURATOR OF ART AMY CHALOUPKA
The Lightcatcher | 250 Flora St. | 3 – 5 pm
MINUSCULE MUGS AND BOOKS WITH KATRINA LYON
Old City Hall | 121 Prospect St. | 4 – 6 pm
SHRINKY DINKS WITH CHRISITAN ANNE SMITH
The Lightcatcher | 250 Flora St. | 4 – 6 pm
STARTING THE YEAR OFF SMALL WALL
The Lightcatcher | 250 Flora St. | All Day

New Museum Opening
2025-03-15 12:00 - 15:00
MUSEO – Art & Archive
704 W. Holly St, Bellingham
Saturday, March 15th 12pm-3pm
The public is invited to celebrate the opening of a new museum in Old Town Bellingham. A sister museum to The Helen Loggie Museum of Art, MUSEO is an assemblage of several collections – tied together with Bellingham as its anchor. Paintings by Ira Yeager, pottery by Louis Mideke, historic maps, posters and an archive of over 100 years of Bellingham newspapers – all on permanent display in the beautifully restored 1913 US Hotel Building. Also open to the public will be the recently created Courthouse Plaza on the corner of Holly and E Street, allowing a chance to see inside the restored Birney streetcar. We hope you’ll stop by and join the fun!
info@theloggie.org

Heritage Flight Museum's April Fly Day
2025-04-26 10:00 - 16:00
Heritage Flight Museum is back in the skies on April 26! Help us “knock off the rust” and start up the 2025 Fly Day series with our historic fleet of trainers and military aircraft. We’ve got amazing planes, exhibits on the Apollo Space Program and more, kids’ activities, flight demos and the Brando’s BBQ truck on site. Admission is $12 adults, $10 seniors, $5 military and kids 5-17, kids under 5 and members free. More info: www.heritageflight.org, or call 360-424-5151 ahead of the event date.

Live Music for "Deck the Halls Festival"
2025-12-13 13:00 - 2025-12-20 15:00
Elea Plotkin will be playing piano in Whatcom Museum’s Old City Hall Rotunda Room on Dec. 13th and 20th, from 1 -3 pm. for their ‘Deck the Halls Festival.’ Stop by and enjoy viewing their decorated trees while listening to her enchanting traditional Carols, classical favorites, and light jazz.
Legacy pianist, singer-songwriter, composer, recording artist, Elea Plotkin grew up with deep roots in Whatcom County’s South Fork Valley, where she attended Mt Baker High School, parents owned the Everybody’s Store. Elea will take you on a musical odyssey that soulfully weaves together the artists who influenced her music, including Carole King, Billie Holliday, George Gershwin, and the ground-breaking jazz improviser, Keith Jarrett. With a passion for classic composers that shaped her technique as well, she’ll often sprinkle in lovely pieces by Chopin and Debussy, giving listeners a lovely mix to tickle any ear.

Bits and Bobs Assemblage Workshop with Renee Scherrer of Social Fabric
2026-01-25 13:00 - 15:00
https://www.whatcommuseum.org/event/bits-and-bobs-assemblage-workshop/
Join Renee Sherrer of Social Fabric for an assemblage sculpture workshop inspired by Io Palmer’s installation, Meander (on view through Jan 25). Palmer’s mixed media work evokes the complex nature of the human experience through color, shape, and texture.
In this workshop, we’ll take inspiration from Meander to create an expression of ourselves using various bits, bobs, and upcycled materials. Sort through bins of collected items from Social Fabric to find objects that speak to your spirit, or bring your own pieces to include. We’ll provide wire, thread, ribbon, string, small objects to attach, and all kinds of ways to create a playful projection.
Class registration includes a materials fee that covers assemblage objects provided by Social Fabric as well as admission to the Whatcom Museum. This is the final day to view the exhibitions, Meander and myself inside your story.

Natural Dye and Shibori Workshop with Serafima Zavorotny and Fiona Ferguson
2026-02-08 13:00 - 16:00
https://www.whatcommuseum.org/event/striking-scarves-natural-dye-and-shibori-workshop/
Brighten up the winter months with natural dyes. Learn how to use plants to create vibrant, wearable art in this introduction to dye making. Participants will explore common natural dyes like madder and weld, learn how to achieve long-lasting color, and experiment with making simple dyes using kitchen scraps, like avocado skins. Next, participants will learn traditional shibori (Japanese tie dye) techniques to create fun patterns on test pieces, then will jump into creating a custom dyed silk scarf.
Class registration fees include admission to the Whatcom Museum, supplies for the class, and a dyeable silk scarf to take home with you.

Provenance Tales of Three French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art
2026-02-20 17:00 - 18:00
https://www.whatcommuseum.org/event/how-they-got-here-provenance-tales-of-three-french-paintings/
Have you ever wondered how an artwork ends up in a museum? Provenance, or the history of an object’s ownership, can offer us a fascinating insight into the social environment in which art is made, sold, collected, displayed, valued—and sometimes stolen. Margaret Doyle, head of Curatorial Records at the National Gallery of Art will join us at the Whatcom Museum to recount the twists and turns in the journeys of three paintings by Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, and Henri Matisse, from their creation in France to their final stop as part of the National Gallery’s permanent collection in Washington, DC. The provenances of these paintings include a memorable set of characters and situations, with stories encompassing artistic friendship, influential French dealers, notable women collectors, a prominent American statesman, and Nazi confiscation and postwar restitution.
This talk is made possible by the National Gallery’s “Across the Nation” program, which is sharing cherished works with regional 10 regional museums around the United States, including ours. These paintings by Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse are on view now in Verdant: French Masterworks from the National Gallery of Art.
This event is free to attend, but advance registration is required.

Introduction to Recording Oral Histories with Kyle Norris
2026-02-28 13:00 - 15:00
https://www.whatcommuseum.org/event/introduction-to-recording-oral-histories/
There’s something incredibly special about recording the voices and stories of our loved ones. In this class, public radio reporter Kyle Norris will share his 20 years of experience to teach you the techniques to make audio recordings. Capture Grandma telling her greatest tales or memorialize anyone you know and love for future generations.
You’ll learn basic but important interviewing skills inspired by NPR’s StoryCorps project to ask questions that will lead to emotional, specific, and compelling answers. Explore the equipment you can use to make audio recordings, from budget-friendly options to more expensive devices like digital audio recorders and high-quality microphones. Finally, learn how to store your interviews and share them with others using free editing software.
Class registration fees also include admission to the Whatcom Museum.

Introduction to Sunset Moth Preservation with Mickey Alice Kwapis
2026-03-14 13:00 - 14:00
Introduction to Specimen Preservation with Mickey Alice Kwapis: Sunset Moths

Learn how to spread and dry your own sunset moth specimen to keep. Using a rehydrated specimen ready to spread, each student will be guided through the process of flexing, posing, pinning, and drying their own moth specimen. This incredible insect, native to Madagascar, is a day-flying moth with structural colors that catch the light to appear as an iridescent rainbow. You will leave with your finished pinned specimen ready to dry at home, as well as a spreading board and tool set to keep for use with future projects. The week following the workshop, students will receive an email containing a digital guide to the entire spreading process, from a dried or freshly deceased specimen to completion.
No experience necessary; ages 12 and younger must be accompanied by a calm adult who can assist where needed. One specimen and tool set are provided per ticket purchased, so if the adult wishes to participate with their own specimen set, an additional ticket should be purchased.
Class registration fees include admission to the Whatcom Museum, one specimen and tool kit, and supplementary reading materials to learn how to repeat the process with more specimens at home.
Mickey will also be teaching a forest scorpion specimen preservation workshop on March 14.

Introduction to Forest Scorpion Preservation with Mickey Alice Kwapis
2026-03-14 15:00 - 16:00
Introduction to Specimen Preservation with Mickey Alice Kwapis: Forest Scorpions

Learn how to spread and dry your own forest scorpion specimen to keep. Using a rehydrated specimen ready to spread, each student will be guided through the process of flexing, posing, pinning, and drying their own scorpion specimen. This incredible arachnid is native to Thailand and uses its pincers more than its tail to inflict damage to its prey. You will leave with your finished pinned specimen ready to dry at home as well as a spreading board and tool set to keep for use with future projects. The week following the workshop, students will receive an email containing a digital guide to the entire spreading process, from a dried or freshly deceased specimen to completion.
No experience necessary; ages 12 and younger must be accompanied by a calm adult who can assist where needed. One specimen and tool set are provided per ticket purchased, so if the adult wishes to participate with their own specimen set, an additional ticket should be purchased.
Class registration fees include admission to the Whatcom Museum, one specimen and tool kit, and supplementary reading materials to learn how to repeat the process with more specimens at home.
Mickey will also be teaching a sunset moth specimen preservation workshop on March 14.

Georgetown Steam Plant and Olympic Sculpture Park
2026-04-11 09:30 - 17:30
Travel in time today as we visit one of Seattle’s National Historic Landmarks and then fast-forward to an outdoor contemporary sculpture collection. Our day begins with a docent-led tour at the steam plant highlighting the important role it played beginning in 1906. We’ll break for a no-host lunch before venturing up to the modern-day Olympic Sculpture Park. Please note: Both locations include steps and uneven surfaces and require walking and standing for a long period of time. Depart/return Civic Stadium.
Website: https://anc.apm.activecommunities.com/bellingham/activity/search/detail/41401?onlineSiteId=0&locale=en-US&from_original_cui=true
