Listen Live
BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – As the year draws to a close, markets and bazaars proliferate Whatcom County as local makers gather in various locations to sell their wares.
A staple for the arts community in Whatcom County has chosen an emptied-out Rite Aid location to repurpose the bones for a beast of a different breed: Holiday Festival of the Arts. In its 46th year, the festival sells local products to patrons, and at the head of making sure the whole operation goes smoothly is Allied Arts of Whatcom County‘s Executive Director Kelly Hart.
Hart took on the job nearly two decades ago as both the organization and the location made sense for her and her family.
“I had a background in the arts. I’ve worked in high end galleries and then also run a similar organization before I came here 17 years ago, and just really, I wanted to be back close to my family, who’s in the Seattle area, but yet not too close,” Hart said. “I wanted a community that was arts focused, and yet a great place to raise my kids.”
Allied Arts is a similar organization to others throughout Washington, and the non-profit takes on a variety of duties. Allied Arts acts as a distribution entity for arts grants that go towards creatives operating on the city or county level. Their website provides patrons the opportunity to sponsor programs in their community.
“As an alliance, one of our biggest focuses is to work with all the organizations and also other business, types of businesses, be it social service organizations or the schools and things to incorporate the arts in their programs. And so, we work with artists as far as providing trying to provide opportunities for them, but also, how can we use the arts to help improve the quality of life for everybody here? And as far as patrons participating, but organizations as well, how can we all work together to make [a] better community?” Hart said.
Allied Arts’ platform provides opportunities for the arts community to flourish. This includes their gallery space and their arts-focused thrift store on Cornwall Avenue in Bellingham in addition to the various events they host or sponsor throughout the year. One of the most notable of these events is their month-long holiday market: Holiday Festival of the Arts.
The Holiday Festival offers space for Allied Arts members to sell their wares, and according to Hart, some have been participating in the festival since its beginning nearly 50 years ago. The market does not require the vendors to be there to manage transactions like some weekend markets. Rather, vendors put standardized barcodes on their items for a single checkout ran by Allied Arts employees and volunteers.
Though the market is named after the seasonality, the wares are not centric to a particular holiday. Items are often smaller however, which Hart said are partially to cater to college students or anyone that may be traveling for the holidays with gifts.
“When the government economy is in kind of flux and people aren’t quite sure what’s going on, we tend to do better, because people aren’t quite sure, and are watching their pennies and wanting to support local, and this community is so great for that,” Hart said. When talking to some of the vendors, Hart heard their fall market businesses had done well, which she said bodes well for the winter season.
“I think [the art community in Whatcom County has] improved immensely from what it was 17 years ago,” Hart said. “The word is getting out more through tourism venues and various different ways to get the word out about what is going on. Social media has been great for the arts because it’s relatively inexpensive and can spread, and artists are really good about spreading the word, and so that’s been a really great thing.”
Hart points to the support overall in the county for accessible arts for families as a big bonus to living in the region in addition to the natural beauty of the area.
“[You] go to a movie at the Pickford or to go to the museum or a concert, that there’s so many options, and all the free concerts we have and the amazing public art that’s going up around town,” she said. “There’s so much free stuff, and it was a real attraction for me, even moving here, back when I did.”
Allied Arts moved into their new space on Cornwall Avenue earlier this year and are in the process of renovating the space to suit their needs. They’re also working to put together grant applications for programs and other resources available to the community. For now, Holiday Festival of the Arts runs until 3 p.m. on Dec. 24, open daily for shoppers looking for a locally made item that were made with Whatcom County residents in mind.
For more information about this year’s Allied Arts Holiday Festival of the Arts, head to their website at alliedarts.org.
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.