WAKE'S annual Lake Padden Symposium

Kayakers around Bellingham are gearing up for this years annual WAKE Lake Padden symposium. WAKE, a non-profit social kayaking organization based in Bellingham, WA, stands for Whatcom association of kayak enthusiasts.

This event, which includes a potluck and paddling seminar, will take place on Saturday, June 23 this year. It will be taking place in the swimming area of Lake Padden.

All Bellingham residents welcome to sign up

Although you must be a WAKE member to participate in this event, non-members may come to Lake Padden on June 23 and join right there before the sessions begin. There is no qualifications to join WAKE, besides having to bring your own equipment. The membership fee for WAKE is $25 per household and is good for one calender year.

“I've never heard of WAKE before, but for $25 it sounds like something worth checking out,” says Bellingham resident Devin Gilmore.

Beginning kayakers welcome to participate

The symposium will include a morning session and afternoon session. The morning session will focus on forward stroke, and the afternoon session will focus on advanced stroke; the leaders of this symposium ask the kayakers to choose the class that fits their own skill level, and to only pick one.

There are a number of instructors that will be involved in these sessions. The four different parts that these instructors will focusing on will be; safety and rescue, intro to kayaking, forward stroke (A.M.), advanced stroke (p.m.), and bracing and edging. The schedule for the days events is the following:

9:00 a.m. The symposium begins with the instructors breaking into groups depending on what skill level people prefer. The instructors will go over what they will be covering in the next few hours

11:30 a.m. Morning session ends.

11:45 to 1 p.m. Lunch potluck.

1:00 p.m., same as morning, participants choose their classes.

3:00 p.m. classes end.

To sign up before June: fill out the membership form and liability waiver. Mail the form, the waiver, and a check to (written to WAKE):
WAKE, P.O. Box 1952, Bellingham, WA 98227.

On June 18, Lake Padden Golf Course will be hosting an even called the Mike Smith Memorial for the second time. The memorial has been put together by the golf course and Danny Evans who is a close friend to Mike Smith. Mike, who passed away a few years ago and was in the care of Hospice for his last few days.

He explains he approached Lake Padden Golf Course about the idea for a tournament and he found out they also were involved in supporting Hospice. They wanted to get involved as well as use their golf course.

“I wanted to do something to honor Mike and all his friends at Lake Padden golf course, and since the owner of the company I work for, Mills Electric is active with Hospice it seemed like the right direction to go.”

For more information on how to register for the tournament go here, Or to donate directly to Whatcom Hospice

The current Samish neighborhood plan has a lot of plans to improve on the traffic circulation throughout the Samish neighborhood, but a lot of those plans have been put on hold because of the economy.

Samish Neighborhood Still wanting to make improvements

BELLINGHAM-- Although plans to install a bikeway along Samish Way from the I-5 overpass to padden park have been recommended as far back as the 1980 five year Samish plan, things are still looking the same. The updated Samish Neighborhood plan also addresses their goal to, “Work with the City and neighborhood to identify areas for trails and trail links that allow people to walk and bicycle safely from residential areas to the Lake Padden, commercial areas, and schools.” Although Samish way and surrounding roads are a spot with heavy auto traffic, they are also in the middle of a residential area with a lot of foot and bike traffic.

Samish Neighborhood President says to be patient.

There has been several posts on the Samish neighborhood website with concerns about safety when walking near the I-5 overpass. Samish neighborhood president Greg McCracken wants residents to know that their requests aren't being ignored there is just an economic barrier; they do plan on making improvements once they get the funding.

Neighborhood president looking for ways to improve for residents.

McCracken recognizes that the city's major issues have a large part to do with the lack of circulation of traffic, and narrow residential streets. “It is a residential road and was never meant for the heavy amount of traffic it receives, but it is an arterial road so we have no recourse to deal with it,” McCracken explains.

Residents express frustration with the narrow roads.

A post on the samishneighborhoodassociation.org forum read, “The stair steps are terrible. Today I passed two biked coming up the hill - on the narrow turning section. wish the city would have sign pointing out that the bike trail is on Padded Gorge trail, not the road. Traffic is way too fast.” The “stair steps” is a short name used by Bellingham residents given to the winding route along 36th, South, 37th, Harrison, 38th, Broad, 40th, and Wilkin Streets.

According to the 2008 Samish neighborhood plan, “The Stair Steps streets are currently classified as an arterial connection to provide a traffic circulation link between the Samish Neighborhood, Interstate-5, and commercial services in the southwestern portion of Bellingham.” Therefore, the stair steps cannot be tampered with by law.