August 16, 2025, 2pm - 8pm
Bellingham Waterfront - Granary Ave and Laurel St
Bellingham Makers Market is so excited to be hosting the Waterfront Arts Market for the 3rd Annual Noisy Waters Mural Festival at the Bellingham Waterfront!
First of all, what is the Noisy Waters Mural Festival? Bellingham is home to Paper Whale, a collective of creative individuals who are committed to bringing public art to the downtown waterfront area. For the past two years in August, nationally known Indigenous muralists created permanent installations while community members painted a temporary mural on the plywood fence along Granary Ave. In addition, a group of professional muralists showed off their skills on big, free-standing panels near the digesters (those big metal towers). In January of 2024 and 2025, Paper Whale pulled out all the stops to put on Fire & Story, a three-evening event that brought the community back to the Waterfront for bonfires burning in huge, artistic metal installations, Indigenous storytelling, live music, a suana grove and more, for a full-on sensory experience .
We are beyond impressed with the amazing team behind Paper Whale, and we can’t wait to see how they elevate Noisy Waters Mural Festival this summer. Similar to last year, the Waterfront Arts Market will take place on Saturday afternoon in the gravel area between Granary Ave and the digesters. Bellinghamsters are learning that Paper Whale puts on incredible experiences, so we expect repeat visitors as well as curious people whose friends told them they missed out last time.
Who should apply for the Waterfront Arts Market at Noisy Waters Mural Festival?
- You’re a handmade maker.
- Your products have a fun, festival-ish, summery vibe.
- You make something that appeals to an artsy, creative crowd - in addition to all the activities related to the mural painting, there will be an upcycled fashion show, live music, city mural tours on bicycle, kids activities and more.
- You and your booth setup are happy to deal with wind, dust, seagulls, rain, a longish walk to the vendor parking lot, and all the things that go along with a big outdoor event.
Important Dates:
- Application deadline: 4/28/2025
- Notification of application status – either accepted, waitlist, or declined: 5/12/2025
- Vending fees and CORRECT insurance documents will be due: TBD. We suggest you submit your vending fees and insurance documents well in advance of the deadline so that we can contact you if there are any issues.
- Vending fees become non-refundable on 8/2/2025, no exceptions.
- Market hours are 2pm - 8pm.
- Load-in: exact set-up hours are TBD, but most likely will be from mid-morning through lunchtime. You will be able to bring your vehicles in during the set-up window.
- Load-out time: 8pm - Vendors are not permitted to start breaking down before the market closes on Sunday evening. Any vendors breaking down early will not be accepted in future markets we host.
Other Important Details:
- Application fee: $10 - This is non-refundable and covers our time to review and curate applications.
- Vending fees:
- 10 x10 booth - $100
- 10 x 20 booth (if available) - $200
- This market is open to handmade makers, artists and artisans. Handmade means that the product was physically created by the seller. Obviously in the process of hand-making our items, all of us use some bought supplies and components. But we want to showcase vendors who are pouring their creative energies into what they sell. If you are the designer, but the manufacturing of the product is outsourced to a third party, please let us know.
- Your business must be registered in WA and you must have a UBI number and be able to collect your own sales tax.
- We believe that having our vendors promote the market is key to bringing the shoppers! Participating vendors are required to promote the market on their social media at least three out of four designated times. We will email you four different times with a graphic and suggested text for you to post that day or the next day. We will do our part too! We will advertise on local online events calendars, reach out to news sources, put up poster and flyers, and contact our growing list of shoppers who gave us their emails to learn about upcoming markets.
- You must be reachable via email. All notifications and reminders will be sent via email from BMM@bellinghammakersmarket.com. When you fill out the application form, please enter an email address that you check regularly. If you miss a deadline because an email went to your spam, junk or gmail's 'promotions' folder, we will assume that you are no longer interested in participating, and will offer your place to a vendor on the waitlist.
- The booth photo is a required part of your application. We will not consider your application without a booth photo. We want to see your products beautifully displayed in your canopy, with all your signage. If you haven't created a booth photo before, there are lots of tips online. We will be using this photo to help us understand the quantity and variety of products you sell, and to visualize how it will look in a row of booths. Impress us!
- Canopies are required, with 40 pounds of weight per leg.
- There is no electricity available. You may use an electric generator. Gas generators are not allowed.
This application process is competitive. We are beyond delighted that our little event hosting company has become known for putting on quality markets. Thank you, Bellingham makers, for all the support! But this also means that it is becoming more competitive to get in. Our list of interested vendors continues to grow, with over 1000 on our email list and 4200 followers on Instagram. We value accepting some vendors that are new to us at each market, as well as including vendors who have participated in our past markets. We aim to offer a rich and diverse experience for shoppers at our events, ensuring there is something unique and enjoyable for everyone!
So please think of your application the way you would think of a job application. You are trying to persuade us with your photos and your written answers why we should select you. Even if you know us personally, please answer as though we don't remember you or your products at all. We want to see by your photos that your products are high quality and that your booth looks professional and that you have plenty of inventory, attractive signage, etc. We have to make a lot of difficult decisions as we go through our curating process. Just because you participated in one of our previous markets is not a guarantee of acceptance. Our focus is to bring together the highest quality experience for shoppers that we can, gathered from all the amazing talent in our area.
In order to help you fill out your application, here are some things that are difficult for us when we are curating. You might be surprised at how many of these things we come across in every batch of applications, and it influences your score. Please double check the details! Here are some common mistakes:
- Typing in an email address or phone number incorrectly -
- Not filling in your last name (We need to know your first and last name for insurance purposes).
- Giving us a phone number that can’t receive texts
- Leaving questions blank or answering with just a word or two
- Submitting photos that don’t show products or booth clearly
- Submitting photos in formats other than JPG (please don’t submit .heic, which is the Apple compressed file format)
- Paying the application fee with an account that is not obviously your name or your business name, and forgetting to email us to let us know
Vendors are not grandfathered in because they were accepted to a previous BMM market.
We're so excited to put together an amazing makers market!
Warmly,
Stephanie, Cynthia and Stephanie