Iconic Bellingham Jewelry Store Goes Out of Business

By Jenny Hoang

            Neon plastic signs line the sidewalk grass on the 1600 block of Broadway Street in the Fountain District.  This colorful display gives passing people attention to a small jewelry store’s imminent closure.   Monte Falen, 67, is closing his shop MJB Jewelers Inc. after 30 years of business.  The grey house has been sold to an anonymous investor with unknown future plans for the building.

            “It’s like losing a dear friend,” said Rhea Ramsey, resident of Bellingham and loyal customer.  She has been a customer at the store since the doors opened in 1982. 

            The official last day of retail will be Dec. 29, 2012.  Customers have visited the store with flowers and gifts to congratulate Falen on his retirement.  The small shop has been iconic in Bellingham residents’ memories. 

            “It was a place where you could trust.  They wouldn’t talk you into something you didn’t like,” said Kathy Jansen.  She commutes to the shop from Birch Bay regularly.  Jansen’s relationship with the staff began when her husband bought her a gold bracelet from MJB Jewelers 12 years ago.  She has not taken it off since.

            Falen moved to Bellingham in 1969 to help his father’s jewelry business after graduating from Sacramento State University with a pre-veterinarian and business degree.

            “I told him I’d only help him for a couple months,” said Falen.   He immediately fell in love with Bellingham and its natural surroundings.  Falen’s passion is sailing and Bellingham’s location and environment fulfilled his need.  He immediately resigned his managing job at DeVons Jewelers in California and moved to Bellingham.  He hasn’t left since.

            Falen’s father, Jerry, and him rented out a space downtown at the National Bank building on Holly Street in the early 1970s where they started as a small repair shop. 

            “We were paying so much for rent and decided to buy a house instead,” said Falen. 

            The Falens bought the small grey house on Broadway Street to convert into their shop.  Falen describes it as the charming little house on Broadway. 

            Because the building was not specifically designed for commercial use, Falen applied for a Certificate of Non-Conforming Use, found on the City of Bellingham Website, for the business.  He named it MJB Jewelers after the three members of the Falen family: Monte, Jerry, and his mother Betty.  The business remained a repair shop until 15 years ago when he hired Jenny Covain to manage and transform it into a retail store.

            Covain has grown a strong working relationship with many of the customers.  Some of them, like Ramsey, will only work exclusively with her. 

            “[Closing the store] is a bit devastating because I’ve made so many friends and gotten so close to so many people.  The best part about working here was becoming part of a couple’s life and to be part of their relationship and history,” said Covain.  She hopes to work at another jewelry shop, Jewelry Affair, in Fairhaven as a part-time employee after the store closes.

            As the stock market drops the price of gold rises, said Falen. He describes running the business as an extremely rewarding roller coaster ride. 

            “I thoroughly enjoyed being in the jewelry business,” said Falen, “It’s not like going to the dentist.  Everyone is happy to be here.”

            Falen is ecstatic about his imminent retirement.

            “I’m going to Hawaii,” said Falen.  His retirement plans include travel, hiking, and sailing.

Garden Club at Middle School Builds Garden

By Jenny Hoang

            With the incoming frost, Whatcom Middle School children plant the last cloves of garlic on their recently built garden.  Tessa Bundy, garden educator for Common Threads Consortium, and Paul Kearsley, owner of Homestead Habitats landscaping company, gather every Wednesday 3:15 p.m. after early release to lead the students in the school’s garden club in creating their own garden. 

            The project officially started Sept. 2012 after five months of planning and the children finished planting the last seeds Nov. 7.  During the winter months when the seeds lay dormant in the frozen ground, the children will work on other activities such as plant research and field trips to nurseries.  They are also planning on creating a simple irrigation system.

            The garden is located next to the portable classrooms in the back of the school on the corner of Irving Street and F Street.  Three long beds for annual crops, harvested and replanted every year, create the body of the garden while the fenced border is lined with perennial crops.  These perennial crops, such as plum trees and pear trees, are easier to maintain and will not need to be replanted.

            “It will leave a legacy and will be fun for students to come back and see their trees grow large,” Bundy said.

            Eight students, ages 12-14, collaborated with Principal Jeff Coulter to facilitate the gardening project in the 2011-2012 school year.  By mid-Sept. Kearsley volunteered with the coordinating team and, with his landscaping expertise, helped the students figure out different elements of design. 

            “In hindsight, I wish I would have learned about it at an earlier age,” Kearsley says.  He believes growing food is an important commodity in modern world.

            “When the school burned down in 2009, it destroyed our previous plans to build a garden,” Coulter says.  He made prior garden proposals in 2007.

            Because Common Threads Consortium, an organization that provides “seed-to-table” education, completed successful gardens with other schools, Coulter contacted the Director Laura Plaut to help organize the project.

            “We had the funds and the plan for the garden, but what was critical was setting the date and getting materials,” Coulter says. “The garden coordinators really utilized human resources.”

            During the school’s event, Make a Difference Day on Oct. 27, the coordinators recruited about 50 community members to help break ground on the garden project.

            “We had grandmas hefting wheel barrows,” Coulter said.

            After the 2009 fire, the community donated funds for the school.  With the support from the community and donations from multiple services, such as fertilizer from Sanitary Services, the project cost amounted to $3,000.  The bulk of the cost is allocated towards an annual membership with the Common Threads Consortium.

            “We are just getting started,” Coulter said.  “When you put in a garden, it is always a process.”

            He hopes to expand the project in the spring by involving more students, and adding more components to the garden, like a hoop house.  A hoop house is a cheap, easy-to-built, plastic-covered green house

            Bundy believes “seed-to-table” education will benefit the students.

            “If people have an intimate relationship with food, then they will make healthier eating choices,” Bundy says.

            Penn State University Assistant Prof. Dorothy Blair’s 2009 case study of nationwide elementary gardening programs prove garden education to be beneficial to the learning environment.  Nine qualitative studies unanimously reported positive learning and behavior effects of school gardening or garden involvement.

            “The big hope is that our students will develop a better understanding where their food is from,” Coulter says.  He believes growing food is a process of delayed gratification.

            Coulter plans to create a partnership with parents and students by renting out plots once the garden is more established.  For now, the students of garden club will be planning more additions for the coming spring.

Toddler's Art School Provides Residents Alternative Education

By Jenny Hoang

            On the grey Pacific Northwest Saturday, October 20, 2012, screaming children chase each other around in colorful costumes and painted hands in an old gas station on the outskirts of the Columbia Neighborhood.  Gabriel Miles is hosting a Halloween party of arts and crafts for the youth of Bellingham at her recently opened art school, Gabriels Art Kids, at the Dupont Street intersection.

            “There aren’t many places nearby for after-school activities.  Zoe gets out of preschool at 1 p.m. so [the studio] is perfect,” said Columbia Neighborhood resident Meredith Jarvis.  She is optimistic about the new studio for her 3-year-old daughter, Zoe.

            Since the grand opening on Sept. 17, the studio offers a preschool program and an after-school program dedicated to creative learning for toddlers and children in all forms of art: visual, music, dance, and theatre.  Seven children, from age 18-months-old to 5-years-old, are currently enrolled in the daytime preschool program and a combination of 17 preschool and elementary-age students are currently attending the after-school program.  For toddlers, cost varies from $199 to $535 per month depending on age, amount of days, and length of days.  For the after-school program, cost varies from $120 to $300 depending on number of days of enrollment per week.  For specialized art classes, Miles charges $55 per month for four classes or $15 per class.

            Columbia resident Marie Ann Cooper says the after-school program at Gabriels Art Kids provides an affordable place for her children to go after school.

            “After-school programs at [Columbia] are limited.  An example is that martial arts are only offered once a week.  A lot of programs are either before class or only an hour after class and that doesn’t cover the time my husband and I are working,” Cooper says.  As a potter, she occasionally teaches pottery and clay making at the studio.

            For Cooper, the art studio’s “walking bus” program, where Ashley Buerger, Mile’s colleague, picks up the children from Columbia Elementary and walks them six blocks to the school, provides an affordable place for her children to grow and learn through creativity.  

            After graduating from the School of Visual Arts, New York City, Miles travelled around New York inner-city schools for two years as an admissions counselor for the university in 1998. 

            “Here we were in the art Mecca of the world and they were cutting all of the art funding,” Miles says.  She remembers meeting talented youths with no means to a creative outlet.

            While studying in Syracuse University for her masters in art education, she frequently visited an art barn in the small town of Deposit, New York.  She was inspired to convert it into a retreat for inner-city kids.

            “Since then it has been burning a hole in my mind,” said Miles.  The plan fell through due to lack of finances.

            With a master’s degree in art education, Miles and her husband moved to the West Coast where Bellingham became their destination small town.  Since moving to Bellingham in 2003, she has been collaborating with Allied Arts of Whatcom County, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching the community through the arts, to teach classes at local schools.

            “Once I had [my daughter], I realized there was nothing art-related for toddlers in this town,” Miles says.  She tested the waters with toddler art classes at the Food Co-Op downtown.  People came from every part of town.  That’s when she knew there was a need.

            “Just like art in school, recess and physical education are being cut so there is a need for it [here],” said Buerger.  She is a recent graduate at Western Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in recreational therapy.  She connected with Miles through the Viking Village Forum, the university’s online public forum, and worked as her nanny.  When Miles bought the building, Buerger became her main associate.

            Since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of the Bush Administration in 2001, funding in public schools has been allocated to focus more on the core subjects, according to an Ohio case study done by Cydney Spohn in 2008.

            The availability of art programs offered in public elementary has declined an average of 12 percent from 1999 to 2010, according to a study by the National Center for Educational Statistics.  While the availability of music education remains the same, visual arts, dance, and theatre take drastic cuts.

            “There have been $10.5 billion in state spending reductions since 2009,” said Dr. Greg Baker, Bellingham Public Schools Superintendent, in a budget update presentation April 13, 2012 to the Parents Advisory Council. 

            State-funded art-related programs are feeling the brunt of these budget cuts.  With adjustments to inflation, the Washington State Arts Commission, which assists in developing art curriculums, has seen a decrease of 38 percent in funding since 2000 according to the Washington State Fiscal Information

            The most commonly cited barriers to teaching the arts were testing-related mandates that require more focus on literacy and math, insufficient class time based on requirements of other core subjects, and lack of sustained school funding for arts education, according to an arts education research initiative done by Washington State Arts Commission.

            “It is about teaching real-life skills.  We will create this whole person rather than just one part of study,” Miles says.  She believes art education is a tool to teach constructive criticism.

            Miles hopes to one day open an alternative art school for children of all ages.  Finance has always been a hurdle.  For now, she is just taking baby steps by hosting one community event at a time.

Airport Master Plan Finds Community Involvement

By Jenny Hoang

            The Federal Aviation Administration seeks to find more community involvement in the development of the Airport Master Plan, according to the Port of Bellingham Meeting October 10 at Squalicum Harbor.  The delayed Master Plan has unknown effects on Bellingham’s northern neighborhoods.

            “This is a complex issue, particularly with the growth (of the airport) being seen,” said Daniel Zenk, Port of Bellingham’s Director of Aviation.

            Because of the growing demand of the use of the airport, reconstruction of the outdated airport is a necessity, said Daniel Zenk, Director of Aviation, at the Port of Bellingham meeting October 10.  In the past 10 years, the industry has seen a 25-30 percent growth of commerce in the airport, said Zenk.

            Birchwood neighborhood resident and longtime former city councilwoman, Louise Bjornson, sees the effects of the boost in commerce in her daily life.

            “When I first moved here many years ago, I did not even know that there was an airport just north of town.  There has been a lot more noise from the airport in the last few years,” said Bjornson. One of her friends sold her house and moved elsewhere in the small neighborhood because the helicopters continued to fly directly over her house.

            Daniel Dunne, President of the Columbia Neighborhood Association, has not noticed any change of frequency of noise from the airplanes flying overhead.

            “We are under the takeoff part of the airport, where the engines are going flat, so the west side of the neighborhood gets a lot of noise already,” said Dunne.  He doesn’t believe that the expansion of the airport will affect the Columbia Neighborhood, except for a slight increase in tax revenue and perhaps more commerce for local restaurants and hotels. 

            The Columbia neighborhood is known as one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods with nearly 4,000 residents.  The southern part of the neighborhood is known as the Eldridge Historic District, with many large historic homes.  The majority of homes in the small neighborhood are single homes, with a strip of commercial buildings on the eastern side and northern side, according to the City of Bellingham website.  One of the more recent development projects in the area is the Fountain District Urban Village in the eastern side of Columbia neighborhood.  The urban village plan is to provide amenities and necessities within walking distance while creating a focal point for community activity, according to the 2010 Fountain District Urban Village Subarea Plan.

            The Port of Bellingham’s Summary of Interviews, 14 residents and representatives of various Bellingham neighborhoods and businesses, say that for those effected by the aircraft noise, there is a desire to see the airport stay at the size it was prior to 2004.

            The Federal Aviation Administration has delayed the deliberation of the Master Plan through mid-2013 due to lack of sufficient community involvement in the development plan, said Zenk.