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BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – As 2025 comes to a close, the newsroom at My Bellingham Now wanted to take a look back at some of our favorite stories of the year.
From everyone at My Bellingham Now, thank you for continuing to support our website as we continue to provide free local news to Whatcom County.
Sam: This year has been another great year with the staff at KGMI/My Bellingham Now and looking back, it was hard to zero in on just a few stories of mine to highlight.
‘No Kings’ rally brings crowd to downtown Bellingham in protest of Trump Administration
The second nationwide No Kings rally was definitely a highlight of 2025. The weather was not pleasant that day, but that did not stop community members from heading to the streets and sharing their thoughts.
Two Bellingham men ice skate and bike across a frozen Lake Padden
Definitely the wildest moment of the year for me was spending time on the ice of Lake Padden. As someone who frequents that lake, walking on the ice was both frightening and surreal. A chance encounter led to some of my favorite photos I have taken for the website.
Krissy Moehl: Race Director of the Chuckanut 50k – My Bellingham Now & Dave Vitt: Founder & CEO of Kulshan Brewing Company – My Bellingham Now
Our weekly We Are Whatcom series continued through this year, with a ton of different local community members highlighted each week. My two favorites I wrote for the column this year were Kriss Moehl and Dave Vitt.
Krissy Moehl is a renowned ultramarathon runner who now spends her time as Race Director for the famed Chuckanut 50k race here in Bellingham. I always enjoy my conversations with her, and her story is one to remember.
Dave Vitt is the mastermind behind Kulshan Brewing Company and is a business-savvy beer expert with stories to prove it. Getting to know even more of the backstory behind Kulshan Brewing Company was a treat, as was the behind-the-scenes look at the brewing/packing process.
Jason: My favorite story of the year was the Lynden girls and Lummi boys bringing home state basketball championships to Whatcom County. It was a crazy experience to go to the SunDome in Yakima to watch some of our local teams duke it out in the state tournament, and even cooler to see the community respond to the hardware coming home.
Read here: “The Zone” Northwest Sports Update 3/10/25 – My Bellingham Now
Dianna: Bellingham may have lost the space of one of its earliest craft breweries, but its spirit lives on. I was honored to have the chance to chat with Shanna Sheridan McGinnis about the legacy that Boundary Bay Brewery leaves behind. Bonus: you can still pick up some of their best-selling brews a bit further south.
Three Boundary Bay Brewery beers to be brewed by Woodinville brewery upon September closure & Shanna Sheridan McGinnis: Boundary Bay 30th Anniversary
Emma: I spent a lot of time working on digging into different subjects that would be of note to different people in our community.
That includes my story on Cloud Mountain Farm Center’s closure in the spring. It was important to me to tell this story as one of my first forays in journalism was to speak with co-founder Tom Thornton after the farm was partnered with Sustainable Connections in late 2018.
‘A trusting name’: Cloud Mountain Farm Center closes after over 45 years – My Bellingham Now
Another story from this year was about the Bellingham Bay Cleanup, which served as a comprehensive benchmark on what Ecology’s process in Bellingham Bay looks like and what is still to come.
The Bellingham Bay Cleanup: What to know as the multistep process continues – My Bellingham Now
This year was also my first year joining our We Are Whatcom rotation of writers. As longer-form columns that focus on one individual or team in the county making a difference, I found myself speaking with people in many walks of lives and professions. Here are a few top stories:
Leslie Lekos: Herbalist at Wildroot Botanicals
Leslie leads her own workshops on bush crafting, herbalism and foraging, all interesting skills to learn. It was great to see Leslie’s work in action when I tagged along on a seaweed foraging workshop.
David Wight: Glass Artist
This one was one of my favorites to photograph as I got to see the process in real time of making a glass sculpture and then speak to a fellow artist about their work.
Devin Champlin: Musician and owner of Champlin Guitars
I love speaking with musicians about their craft, and as someone that spends many personal hours engaging with the local music scene, hearing directly from Devin on how he operates as both a creative and a business owner was eye-opening.
Adam: As the lifestyle expert here at My Bellingham Now, I work tirelessly every week to curate a lineup of fun activities to enjoy every weekend around Whatcom County and highlight standout businesses in our community.
Our weekly Lifestyle Lookout features events, parties, food and drink, and live music. While we welcomed the “great dark” in early November, there was still plenty to do in our neck of the woods.
Read more: Lifestyle Lookout: Twelfth Night, Holiday Bazaar, Nordic Fest and live music
Of course, craft beer is a staple in Whatcom County, and nothing pleased me more than to highlight the great work of local brewers in 2025.