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Fairhaven PT Achieves Advanced CertificationTuesday, July 22, 2008) Taimi Dunn Gorman
Juliana Bohn, PT, CMPT at Core Therapeutics PT in Fairhaven, has passed her level 3 certification exam through the North American Institute of Orthopedic Manual Therapy earning the title of Certified Manual Physical Therapist. This demanding 3-year process requires extensive continuing education, submission of three case studies and passing written and practical exams. Bohn has over 25-years experience as a PT and educator, and is active in the dance community, directing a dance injury prevention clinic.
She also has a special clinical interest in upper cervical dysfunction due to whiplash. She treats orthopedic and musculoskeletal dysfunction in the spine and extremities, and fabricates custom orthotics. Preferred providers for most insurance. Call 360.752.2673 or visit http://www.corept.org for further information.
Half staff flag honors killed Washington soldierMonday, July 21, 2008
Early this morning, our flag was lowered to half staff. Governor Chris Gregoire has directed that flags at all Washington State agency facilities be lowered to half-staff Monday, July 21, in memory of U. S. Army Corporal Jason M. Bogar of Seattle who was killed in action in Wanat, Afghanistan July 13. Cpl. Bogar began his military career as a member of the Washington National Guard. The flag committee of the Old Fairhaven Association is chaired by Stephanie Johnson. We follow all the normal flag guidelines with our new flag and lower if when the Governor directs state agencies to. Flag to be at half staff on MondaySaturday, June 21, 2008
Governor Chris Gregoire has directed that flags at all Washington State agency facilities be lowered to half-staff Monday, June 23, in memory of U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant Michael Toussiant-Hyle Washington of Tacoma who was killed in action in Afghanistan June 14. We in Fairhaven will be lowering our flag from early morning till sunset on Monday. City finally fixes sidewalkWednesday, June 4, 2008)
Can you believe it. That gross disconnect in the city sidwalk up on 11th Street between Eclipse Books and Fairhaven Bikes is being fixed. For years the sidewalk did not fit between the two stores. For years the city legal department has tried to put the blame on the business owners. But it was a city screwup - and finally the city is fixing it by building a new sidewalk. Maybe no connection, but it seems some common sense things are taking place that were stalled by the two past mayors. WowFriday, May 30, 2008) Click for larger view
This is what it looks like as a big 6 inline diesel engine self destructs. Fairhaven had a some excitement this noon when this semi tractor trailor hauling a load of concrete blocks to a contruction site near Boulevard Park came through. The driver said the engine “popped” and started getting rough and then speeding up. Corey, who hawks hotdogs at the old service station, said he saw it coming north on 12th belching smoke and getting noisier. By Harris the driver had to stop as the engine surged out of control and could not be shut down. It went past the 2200 rpm redline to exceed 4,000 with a huge amount of noise until the driver stuffed a jacket into the air intake. With the modest breeze today, the awful smelling smoke cleared out pretty fast. A tow truck retrieved the rig. Stanello’s closes June 5Thursday, May 22, 2008
Yes, after 34 years running his Italian restaurant, Stan Velis is retiring. Stan bought Sophie’s pizza parlor in 1974 and renamed it Venus Pizza - and renamed that Stanello’s in 1988. He started when he was 21 years old - and stayed with it, creating one of the most beloved and successful restaurants in Fairhaven. Last winter he sold the property but kept the business. Now he is closing the business. Stan will take a well deserved break. Anyone who has ever been in the restaurant business (I was once) knows it requires the owner in attendance to make it work. I asked Stan this afternoon what he planned to do. “Nothing”, he replied. Actually, he will enjoy sleeping late, buying a newspaper and going out to a leisurly breakfast at some nice restaurant. And then he will see what he feels like doing next. He will adjust slowly to his new life. We thank Stan for the many years of providing us with a friendly place with grest value in good food and drink. For many of us it has been our comfort place where we knew we could have a good evening out for a reasonable amount. Thanks, Stan. Enjoy your free time. You sure earned it. Earth Day Everyday at Studio 910 SalonFriday, April 11, 2008) Photo by: Taimi Dunn Gorman
Studio 910 Salon owner, Amy Electra Squires, explains the refillable shampoo line to Assistant Manager, Georgia Gelder in preparation for Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Fairhaven Salon is donating a portion of proceeds from services and products to the Re-Store in Bellingham. The non-profit organization has been diverting usable materials from land fills since 1993. “We want to help make a difference on Earth Day, not just talk about it,” said Studio 910 Salon owner, Amy Electra Squires. “There are so many ways each business can help the environment without a lot of effort.” The salon uses exclusively sustainable and environmentally friendly products such as Pureology Haircare, local business Organic Complexion Skin Care and Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics. The Pureology line offers refillable bottles. In addition, they use no perms, hair relaxers or artificial nails to keep the salon air clean and safe, and recycle where possible. They are launching a new website which will also feature tips on personal and business environmentally-friendly options. For information or an appointment for Earth Day, call 671-4100. Yoga Northwest to Move FridayWednesday, March 12, 2008) Taimi Dunn Gorman
In organized chaos 11-12 noon, Friday, March 14th, 20-year old Yoga Northwest will move one block to 1440 10th Street in Harris Square. The noon class will usher in a dream come true for owner, Ingela Abbott, whose little company has grown from a few classes, to yoga of all levels, 34 times a week, offered day and evenings by nine certified Iyengar Yoga instructors. Quieter,
Skylark’s Closes to Expand KitchenSaturday, February 16, 2008) Photo by Taimi Dunn Gorman
Skylark’s Cafe owner, Don White, pours one of the last glasses of wine for a couple of weeks, as the restaurant closes to double its kitchen size. After expanding the dining area in 2005, business kept increasing and quickly outgrew the cooking space. Don plans to also refinish the hardwood floors and expand the handicap restroom. The restaurant will re-open in time for a gala St. Patrick’s Day party. White has doubled his corned beef order this year. Photo by Taimi Dunn Gorman Cory serves hot dogs year roundFriday, December 7, 2007)
You’ve seen him - and many of us have enjoyed his hot dogs. Cory serves up first class Hempler hot dogs and brats at his portable grill located at 12th and Harris in the empty service station lot. He is open from 10:30 am till 6 pm, Monday through Saturday - and apparently year round. Tis a cold north wind blowing today. With Cory is a satisfied customer, Steve, who had a quote for us. “Great hot dog”, he said. I concur. You can walk or drive up to Cory’s grill. Fabulous Formals Find FairhavenSunday, October 28, 2007)
Entrepreneurs, Jessica Nelson and Toni Cross have opened their new special occasion dress shop in Finnegan’s Alley. Featuring fabulous dresses in sizes 2-14 in affordable to luxury price ranges, the shop also carries fancy clutch purses and handmade jewelry by local designer Heidi Hull. The owners go the extra mile by keeping track of dresses sold, matching them to proms and special events to prevent duplicate dress disasters. They are open Mon-Sat. For info call 922-0815. Our feeling is that while your guests are milling around, you should be milling around with them. Vintage Fashions to Freshen FairhavenSaturday, October 13, 2007) Assistant Manager, Rose Brockmeyer (left) and Store Owner, Lynn Loewen admire a vintage leopard print coat while stocking the new shop.
Hollywood Stars won’t be the only ones in designer vintage duds when “Nostalgia” vintage wear opens in the Fairhaven’s new Young Building. Featuring the best of original treasures from 1930 to 1970, to vintage-inspired new clothing, the shop is sure to be a hit in a district that prides itself on historic preservation and individualism.
Seattle Times writes about FairhavenThursday, September 13, 2007) above is a screen shot of the Seattle Times article
Today’s Seattle Times has a great article that is a guide to a fun day in Fairhaven. Written by Bellingham resident Mike McQuaide, the article is quite accurate and does a great job of touching on many of our finest shops and restaurants. It also gives a nice plug for this weekend’s Salmon BBQ - something today’s Bellingham Herald Take Five magazine fails to even mention. Here is a link to the online version of the article. Note there are six photos that you can scroll through and click on to enlarge. A fun article and Mike, who is a long time Fairhaven person, puts a nice twist to the story of how Fairhaven has changed over the past 25 years or so. Banner Bank covered Outdoor Cinema admissionsTuesday, September 4, 2007
In a surprise to all who came to last Saturday’s outdoor movie on the Village Green, Banner Bank was picking up all the admissions. Wow. That is a first. Several hundred folks enjoyed “Back to the Future” after enjoying music by “Monday Night Project”. Oh, and then one of the drawing prizes was an iPod Nano - provided by Banner Bank. The bank will be opening a branch in Fairhaven next summer in the former Fairhaven Laundry building on 12th. Over the winter the building will be completely renovated. Welcome Banner Bank. New Imus building opens in SeptemberTuesday, August 28, 2007)
Looking clean and modest in size, the new “Triple I” building will be opening for business in September. It is a venture of Ken Imus and his two sons, Tim and Brad. The building needed no variances and fits nicely next to Fairhaven Bikes and Eclipse Books up on 11th Street. Several features harken back to the buildings of the 1800s such as the 18 foot ceiling height on the first floor - the retail floor. They also own the land to the side of the building and plan to leave a space between them and the next building - whenever that may be built. The 2nd floor will have professional offices. Tenant contracts are pending. One nice trait of all the Imus buildings is their modest size; two story structures with some charm and historic touches are the common theme. Parking after 5 pm no problemMonday, August 27, 2007
First - please note the parking map below today’s post. An informal survey shows there are empty parking slots on even the core blocks of Fairhaven after 5 pm on weekdays. Harris between 10th & 11th and even 11th and 12th. 11th between Harris and Mill. My my. How can that be? Employees of shops and restaurants are still working. Most shops do not close till 6 pm and restaurants stay open later. Answer below There are four groups of people who clog up our prime parking spaces during the day - robbing our merchants and restaurants of customers. One group is the business owners who have offices on the second and third floors of the mixed use buildings. Many of us have talked to them over the past few months - and the ones who park in the core do not care that they are taking hundreds of dollars away from shops and restaurants each day with each occupied space. A second group is the employees and also a few of the owners of shops and restaurants. ( I was having lunch at one restaurant recently and watched the owner of another restaurant located a block away park right next to my window.) The third group is the construction folks. The general contractors do their best to have their people park out of the core but their sub contractors - many of whom are only working for a couple weeks on a building - tend to park anywhere that is convenient. And the last group is about 25 to 30 tenants of Chuckanut Square - the Bellingham Housing Authority building at McKenzie and 12th. Now - the construction will be ending within a month on the two new buildings on 11th. And not only will the workers be gone but about 30 renovated parking spaces will reopen on McKenzie between 11th and 12th. Unfortunately, the Chuckanut Square folks love that street for 24 hour parking. The Housing Authority provides only 21 spaces for its 101 residential units. They have shown a strong resistance to being responsible for their own impacts on our commercial district. The business owners - owners, not employees - who have offices on upper floors are the ones who should have the brains and decency to park just less than two blocks away and free up core parking spaces. We ask them to please reconsider and become good neighbors. I will have more on parking soon. Next - how the underground parking at the new buildings is not working at all and why. And why we do not need nor want parking meters.
Answer to empty after 5 pm parking spaces? Business owners in 2nd floor offices have gone home.
Parking program for district employeesThursday, July 19, 2007">  ">
You can also download an easy to print PDF file of the map. Aug 8 update - the map shown is the Aug 1 corrected version, showing the no parking area on north 11th Street. A new effort is being made to improve the parking for customers of our historic district shops and restaurants. Ray Dunn, one of the owners of the Pacific Chef on 11th, has taken a survey with merchants and has given objective evidence to what we all sort of knew; employees park on the core streets where our customers want to park. Ray, who has decades of retail experience, is convinced that if parking meters - or even parking signs limiting parking times - are installed on our streets that it will seriously hurt commerce for all. And once in, they will never be taken out.
Ray has two suggestions at this time.
We need to appeal to all who work in the core to do what is the right thing to do - and do it for the benefit of all. If not and if we get meters then all will suffer. Ray asks why we should punish our customers with fees when the problem is of our own making. Yes, there are many other factors, but these are the main factors. Yes, when construction is done then some spaces will open up but we still need a real program to keep the best parking spaces for customers. Two Turtle Doves to open early SeptemberTuesday, July 17, 2007
Well, guess which business is opening a second storefront. Two Turtle Doves will sell custom bedding and will be located at 909 Harris Avenue, the old Bellingham Bay Hotel building built in 1901. Bonnie and Joe, owners of Three French Hens are the new business owners. They will be using a slick computer program to help buyers select the bedding that goes best with the decor of their bedrooms. Hmmm - and what would be the third store they might someday open? Spaces for Lease in FairhavenFriday, July 13, 2007
Oh yes, there are good spaces to lease in Fairhaven. They come up and get grabbed, so it behoves potential businesses to watch carefully via either a real estate agent or by checking with the building owners who advertise in the right side columns on these pages. There is currently an unusual space for a health practitioner. Jan Templeton has a healing center with several office spaces and has one available now. If you - or someone you know - might be interested, contact her directly at 360-647-7667 or 360-961-2038. A link to her business is just below this post. This space could be perfect for an accupuncturist, naturopathic physician, or nurse practitioner. It is 450 square feet. $500 a month. One page of Fairhaven.com lists virtually all the building owners, making it quite convenient to check for possible lease spaces. Also, building owners in Fairhaven tend to refer prospects to other building owners in order to get a good fit between business and location. In Fairhaven we all try to work together for our common good. Salmon Bar B Que in September is a GoWednesday, June 20, 2007
A revival of the annual salmon festival of the 1980s is a definite Go for this September. The Marketing Committee of the Old Fairhaven Association this morning made a firm decision tg hold the event on Saturday, Septembe 15 in the afternoon. It will dovetail with the Fairhaven Runners 15K run which starts and ends on the Village Green on Saturday morning. The committee has been researching this for several weeks. Cathy Lee of Southside Trends and Anne Kneesch of Artesano’s are the co-chairs for the event. This will be a fund raiser for the annual marketing budget. If you want to volunteer, then contact Anne or Cathy. They would welcome more business owners to help out. |
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