“Welcome to Bellingham Exit — now that the seatbelt sign has been turned off, please feel free to exit the ordinary, enter the extraordinary, and move about the cabin.”

What do an ice cream shop, a singer-songwriter, and a punk band all have in common? Well, if you were in Bellingham this past weekend (Oct. 10-13), you’d know that all three (and more) were integral parts of the 2nd Annual Bellingham Exit, a music and arts festival featuring an extraordinary mix of music, comedy, visual arts, and interactive experiences.

The four-day festival transformed downtown Bellingham into a rich, immersive arts playground. Performances and art installations at the primary participating venues (Mount Baker Theatre, Wild Buffalo, The Shakedown, The Blue Room) were accompanied by free pop-up events at various bars, record stores, and yes, the aforementioned ice cream shop, Mallard. Breaking down barriers between art forms, the festival presented a rich palette of performances in artfully transformed music venues, curiosities in untraditional spaces, or comedy shows in unexpected locations.

As the festival website noted, it draws inspiration from events like SXSW and Treefort, but with a uniquely Bellingham approach-highly intimate and accessible. Unlike traditional music festivals (think Woodstock, Coachella, or Bonarroo) with huge bands, correspondingly huge crowds on a huge main stage, Bellingham Exit is a decentralized event allowing participants to roam the city, exploring the wide range of multi-sensory, events featuring music, art, comedy, and dance.

And roam, bar-crawl-like, I did.

The number and variety of performances each day was a bit overwhelming, so I decided to concentrate on the local and regional bands. Friday, the first full day of performances gave me an opportunity to see local artists, Veronica North
and Morgan McHugh at Mallard Ice Cream.

Veronica is a Bellingham local singer/songwriter heavily inspired by female artists like Maggie Rogers and Taylor Swift. Her strong, octaves spanning voice (think Heather Nova) drew listeners in as they licked ice cream cones and lingered in the shop throughout her performance. Morgan McHugh (also from Bellingham) followed, with his bluesy, Americana tales of hardship, but delivered with passion, intensity, and optimism.

Although they weren’t on the Main Stages this year, Bellingham Exit provided exposure to new and upcoming artists, both musical and visual. And perhaps not so unintentionally, the festival also served as an incubator for new artists.

Hailing from Australia, Babe Rainbow was the final band I caught that first evening and demonstrated the festival’s international bona fides (last year Sona Jobarteh, the Gambian kora player, filled that role). Playing to a packed Wild Buffalo their psychedelic rock surf culture imagery sparked a joyous dance party.

Saturday’s events started out at Ritual Records with Biff Got Killed, a home-grown Bellingham power trio. The band’s stoner rock set the stage (or floor space, if you will) for Cat Valley, a garage punk band from Seattle combining pop buoyancy and raw grit for music that extolls progressive politics and shared (between band and fans) boiling emotions. Beautiful Freaks, the last band I caught at Ritual Records and another Seattle based band, was defiantly genderqueer while showcasing influences from across the musical rainbow: glam rock flamboyancy, hardcore punk, regional sludgy grunge, metal’s intensity, and the melodic sensibility of jazz.

Returning to the Wild Buffalo, I caught the tail end of Normal Behaviour’s set, another Australian band inspired by 70s rock and 90s grunge. The 4-piece band made way for multi-instrumentalist “eclectic alternative electronic pop” artist, Robert DeLong. Originally from Seattle and now based in Los Angeles, the songwriter and producer turned the Wild Buffalo into another massive dance party.

The final night, Sunday, only one show remained: Bonny Light Horseman in a sold-out performance at the Wild Buffalo. Gorgeous Americana melodies and harmonies stretched out over two hours bringing the 2nd Bellingham Exit to a satisfying and hugely successful close. A review of Bellingham Exit’s final 2024 show will appear in Parklife DC shortly.

Here are some more photos of the Bellingham Exit Music & Arts Festival on Oct. 10-13, 2024. All photos courtesy of and copyright Mark Caicedo.