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BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Since 1927, the Mount Baker Theatre has served as a flagship location to the arts and entertainment community in Whatcom County by inviting acts big and small to perform on its historic stage in Bellingham.
Executive Director John Purdie has seen the venue through the COVID-19 pandemic, and the theatre is about to finish out yet another season under Purdie’s stewardship. As the theatre nears its 100th season in 2027, Purdie works to listen to what the community needs.
“Most of my work is talking to people all day long,” Purdie said. “Luckily, I enjoy doing that.”
Purdie’s tenure as executive director began mere months before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the theatre down. He had essentially a year to regroup and find a way to welcome people back to the theatre with open arms.
“One of our internal monologue, or internal mantras, is something for everybody. We [try] to do something for everybody. I don’t know that everybody loves everything we do, but everybody should [be able to] find something that we do that they would want to see for sure,” Purdie said.
From featuring touring Broadway acts to showcasing rock bands and screening films in their 1,500-seat auditorium, Mount Baker Theatre attempts to cover the bases in what performances can be seen on their grandiose stage.
The building has other event spaces, including a smaller venue called the Harold and Irene Walton Theatre, a lounge space where Lookout Sessions debuted immediately following the shelter in-place order was lifted and the theatre reopened four years ago. Local acts like Robert Sarazin Blake perform at the smaller stage, where the theatre could operate at a smaller scale during pandemic fears of mass gatherings.
The Mount Baker Theatre is one of the few remaining old-style theatres still in existence, putting on shows just as it was a century ago.
“100 years ago, [vaudeville theatres] were all over the place. Every little town had a little thing because they were making these films, and they needed someplace to show them, and so they built all these theaters everywhere. But most towns lost them. Most towns let them fall into disrepair. And if we lost this building, there’s no way you could ever rebuild it,” Purdie said.
In the 1980s, the theatre was at risk of being developed into a multiplex movie theater, but local advocates pushed back against the sale and redevelopment. Advocates argued for a restoration of the building so future generations of locals and tourists alike could visit the theatre for years to come. According to the theatre, the city eventually bought the building, and a non-profit was created to manage it.
As one of the last vaudeville theatres built in the Pacific Northwest, Purdie said the point was to transport the movie-goers to a different world.
“I think times are always hard and difficult, and people deserve a night out. And so, there is a reason that this building was built 100 years ago to look exotic. It makes it look like nowhere else,” he said.
Purdie and the rest of the staff at the Mount Baker Theatre work to keep costs of tickets down so that experiencing shows at the theatre is accessible for a wider audience.
Though Purdie has worked at the theatre for several years, his career has taken him far from Bellingham where he received his undergraduate degree at Western Washington University. His background in higher education at both WWU and around the country informs his work as the head of Bellingham’s largest theatre.
“I knew when I looked at this job that was at Western to come back, I’m like, ‘that’s the end of my career, because I’m never gonna leave that town again once I get back to Whatcom County,'” Purdie said.
Purdie and his wife have raised three daughters in Whatcom County, often shuttling them to Lynden for performances at the Claire Theatre.
“I get struck sometimes because people talk about all the county, people that live in the county, or people that live in [Bellingham]. I’m like, man, we—pretty much all of us—live in Whatcom County, and so, I’m very proud to live in Whatcom County.” John Purdie
In addition to his work at the theatre, Purdie also volunteers with the Bellingham Theatre Guild and maintains relationships with other music venues in town—a relationship that can come in handy when problems arise.
Purdie told My Bellingham Now the story when a lead singer was going to be late to perform at the theatre and, at the drop of a hat, found a surprise opener to play while they waited for the lead singer.
“We called Craig Jewell at the Wild Buffalo. We called a few of the folks. They’re like ‘[Can] you get a hold of this band?’ So, our program director calls up Hot Damn Scandal, and they’re like, ‘Sure, we’ll perform tonight.’ One of their band members drove up from Seattle, they did an opening set for like 45 minutes, and then the show went on like at nine o’clock,” Purdie said.
“[You know] we are an arts community when you can call up and get a professional grade band to be available on a—I can’t remember if it was a Thursday or Friday night—but they made it happen,” he said.
When booking acts, Purdie and his team need to find a way to get touring musicians to stop in Bellingham. He said that it takes placing a call at the right time and knowing certain tours won’t make a stop where they can only perform for one night, such as Broadway.
“So, if there’s a music concert that’s at like, Zoo Tunes or at the Paramount or something up in Vancouver, and it sells out really fast, we’ll call up that agent sometimes and say, ‘Hey, I see you’re about to sell out, or you’ve already sold out. Would you like to add another night? But maybe not in this 3,000-seat place, how about a 1,500-seat. Like, 50 miles away,'” Purdie said.
Broadway shows that are touring in Seattle and Vancouver won’t come into Bellingham, where acts can only be supported for one to two nights. This season, the Mount Baker Theatre managed to host six Broadway shows, an all-time high. Most of those shows were two-night stints.
“Our goal this year is to try to [be] the first year since COVID that we don’t lose money at the end of the year. And I don’t know if we’re gonna make it. I mean, even though we’re 4,000 tickets ahead this year versus last year,” Purdie said. “So, I mean, we can keep jacking the prices up and up and up, but most of that ticket price just keeps going into the artist.”
Purdie explained that his role at the theatre is merely a stewardship—he didn’t own, build or perform at the Mount Baker Theatre. But he keeps it running, regardless of the turbulent waters he and the team navigate.
We Are Whatcom is a weekly column featuring Whatcom County residents making a positive impact on the community. To submit a Whatcom County resident to be featured, click here.