I started volunteering for the Bellingham and Whatcom County Tourism Board in June 2025 and it’s been a truly wonderful experience so far. Once a week I am at the main office ready to give information about this lovely city and county to people who come in, based on their needs and hobbies. I get local people wanting more information either for themselves or guests they are hosting, people who just moved here that want to know about recreational activities and events, visitors on vacation for a few days wanting hiking, biking, and restaurant suggestions, and people driving through needing something to do for a few hours. I love engaging with new people and bragging about the city I love so much and am so proud to live in! There are some great perks too because they want us to experience tours and events so we are more familiar with them to discuss them with people. Recently, I had the pleasure of volunteering at our official FanZone area for the World Cup giving out swag and watching the games.
Earlier this year, the Visitor Center launched the Bellingham Ambassador Program and anyone who’s interested that knows Bellingham can become an Ambassador through an online course that takes about 20 minutes. Volunteers were the first to try this new program, therefore, I became an official Ambassador back in March, another accolade to add to my resume. If you want to know anything about Bellingham and Whatcom County, you can ASK ME and I’ll be able to give some great suggestions, history, and various knowledge about the Fourth Corner of the Continental USA!
As some of you may know, Bellingham is only 30 minutes from the Canadian border and technically closer to Vancouver, BC, than Seattle, WA. I actually go to concerts in Vancouver more often than Seattle since the venues are closer and traffic slightly more tolerable. I also fly out of YVR (Vancouver Int'l Airport) because it’s only about 1 hour from my house, whereas SEATAC is about 1.5-2 hours of driving since it’s south of Seattle. Sadly, due to the current political climate, Canadians aren’t coming into the USA as much as they used to and border towns like Blaine and even Bellingham have seen a dramatic decrease from Canadian tourism since the beginning of 2025. Canadian travel to Whatcom County dropped roughly 35% to 40% following political tensions, tariff disputes, and a consumer boycott. The Canadians I meet on my travels tell me that they miss coming to Whatcom County, but out of principle, they refuse to come over the border. In the meantime, our tourism board has implemented a marketing strategy to Canadians with messaging that “we’re here when you’re ready.” As someone who loves traveling to BC to explore and has had a few cross-border dates, I hope that these “tensions” between our two countries get back to normal in the future.
