The Podcast: Spring Festivals in Bellingham
Spring Festivals in Bellingham
aka Tulip Town, Races and Racists, aka From Bulbs and Babes to Boats and Bikes
Summary
This episode is about spring festivals in Bellingham. 2023 is the 50th anniversary of the annual Ski to Sea Race here in Bellingham. The race officially started in 1973 as part of Bellingham’s Blossomtime Festival. That festival traces its roots to Bellingham’s first spring fling - The Tulip Festival - born out of bulb cultivation in Whatcom County. We dive into Bellingham’s days as “Tulip Town” and the evolution of spring festivals and events through the years. Find out why the Tulips took off to Skagit County and the Tulip Festival turned into Blossomtime and then Ski to Sea. It’s a surprisingly wild ride.
Content Warning
A bit of a content warning, while the topic of this episode - Spring Festivals in Bellingham, would perhaps seem innocuous enough, we will be discussing some relevant but dark and disturbing history involving the racist organization the KKK or the Ku Klux Klan, and racism and intolerance more generally. So if you are hoping to hear a light hearted fluffy story about tulips and spring festivals, maybe this ain’t it.
We believe it is important not to leave out or gloss over these parts of the story as uncomfortable as they are. That said, this episode ran long, and we were concerned after editing that it might seem we were not spending enough time or covering what is a pretty serious subject sufficiently. Because we have covered the KKK presence in Bellingham in more detail previously, here is a link to that for those wanting a deeper dive.
We want to acknowledge how racism, both overt and less obvious, and certainly systemic, have made Bellingham a place that was not welcoming to anyone who was not white.
It is particularly unfortunate in this discussion of festivals with a focus on civic pride and community - that those sentiments, for many people, including many in positions of power and authority, were conditional and did not include persons of color and other groups seen as ‘others’ or ‘outsiders.’
We are glad to see our city focus on inclusivity and making everyone feel welcome.
We want to express appreciation for everyone working hard to make sure it is explicitly stated as part of our values here in Bellingham and to specifically address the legacy and current realities of racism in meaningful and practical ways.
We also recognize that this is ongoing and there is still work to do.
tech stuff
We appreciate your patience with us as we struggle to make the best sounding podcast we can with the technology we have at hand, under less than ideal conditions. We legit currently sit on Kolby’s bed with pillows and tapestries hung everywhere and share one microphone. We also are just learning, fuddling around editing everything ourselves with spotty results. It works okay, but we hope to upgrade a bit soon. We appreciate the feedback and tips we’ve been getting!
Listen
You can also listen to the episode at …
We want to thank Devin Champlin and the late, great, Lucas Hicks for the use of the ol’ Gallus Brothers tune “Too Bad West Coast Blues.” You can find that tune and more on bandcamp at https://thegallusbrothers.bandcamp.com/ and https://devinchamplin.bandcamp.com/ and you can find Devin at Champlin Guitars in Bellingham! <3 <3 <3
Bonus Pics and Ephemera
Blossomtime Parade photographs by "Cal Crook" (1905-2001) courtesy David Crook
Resources and References
Links to tulips and such
Highly Recommend the story of the race that inspired Ski to Sea: The Mountain Runners
The Mountain Runners at the Pickford Theater Weds May 24, 2023 at 6 pm
The Mountain Runners Available for rent on Amazon
A few of our favorite fests
References
We can’t believe we read all these, this is why it was long, we put them all in a doc here.
Also relevant to Klan history of the era see this article and book.
In this episode we discuss the early history of Bellingham’s historic Hotel Leo, aka the Leopold Hotel. From its earliest days as the Byron House through its take-over and expansion under PNW beer baron Leopold Schmidt. And since it’s spooky season, we include stories about some “potential ghosts” that might be wandering the halls…