February 27, 2026

 Cascade Chinking Services was able to finish chinking the remaining cabins and complete touch ups and repairs as needed.  Of the $150,000.00 of ARPA funds dedicated to the chinking project, it was completed for a total of $111,749.84.  $38,250.16 under budget!  We appreciate the City’s investment in the Pioneer Village Cabins.

The Education Program under the Supervision of Julie Aamot hosted 328 students from the Ferndale School District and an additional 184 students from other county schools. The program generally runs for two weeks in the spring and helps us carry out our mission statement which reads: The purpose of the Ferndale Heritage Society is to educate the community on the history of Whatcom County, promote Pioneer Park and tourism in Ferndale, WA, and bring together those people interested in preserving history and maintaining the log cabins and collections at Pioneer Park.

The spring plant sale in May raised just over $1600 which allowed us to purchase plants and hire a seasonal gardener to water and take care of the flower beds around the cabins and near the entrance to Pioneer Park.

In July we again helped the Old Settlers Association with hosting the cabins during Pioneer Days. This is a long standing (billed as Washington’s Longest Running Picnic) community event with the cabins open to the public free of charge.

Olde Fashioned Christmas is our biggest annual event.  Held Friday & Saturday evenings the first weekend in December, paying guests tour the seasonally decorated cabins, enjoy music, crafts and refreshments. There are opportunities to write a letter to Santa, mail it and even visit the jolly old man.  Letters to Santa are answered by a crew of volunteers. 2025 saw over 2000 visitors over the two day (10 hour) event. Community donations to this event include: apples for applesauce making, cookies for the refreshments, poinsettias to decorate the pavilion and financial support.  We appreciate the support from the City of Ferndale and the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce, especially the use of the Pavillion building. Special thanks to Mayor Hansen and Council Members Herb Porter, John Mutchler and Erin Gunter for volunteering.

The Lighted Christmas Stroll is held Friday and Saturday, the 2nd and 3rd weekends in December. Weather and flooding issues were factors this year in the low turnout but over 2000 visitors still came to enjoy the lights and hot cocoa. We thank Mayor Hansen for again helping at the gate.

Planning for Olde Fashioned Christmas and the Lighted Christmas Stroll starts in July.  Work parties take place two or three times a week beginning November 1st.  Total recorded volunteer hours include 816 hours for set up, 266 hours for tear down and 568 hours for hosting.  Many more hours were added with duties such as additional cabin decorating, gathering donations, volunteer coordination, advertising and administration.

In 2024 a video history of the cabins and Barr Barn were completed and added to our website. In 2025 we added an additional video narrated by three of the four founding members of the Ferndale Heritage Society explaining how and why the Ferndale Heritage Society was formed. This video also has beautiful aerial views of the park and Pioneer Village. It can be viewed at

Get Involved/Membership/History of the Ferndale Heritage Society at www.FerndaleHeritageSociety.org/membership.

In 2025 Fred Sutcliffe also completed work to stabilize and re-stain the pews in the Log Cabin Church. The Heritage Society also replaced and repaired shutters on the Rodgers and Larsen Cabins, cleaned the loft area of the Barr barn, dealt with unwanted critters and bugs, and paid to have a new security door and wheelchair ramp installed at the back door of the Veterans Museum. We facilitated the donation of the Ferndale Grain sign and had it refurbished. We are continuing to work on a large scale cataloging project for the artifacts. The Tillicum House interior was painted and the old vinyl blinds replaced with attractive room-darkening curtains.

In total the Ferndale Heritage Society logged over 5940 volunteer hours in 2025.

We have appreciated the on-going support from the City of Ferndale, especially the Facilities Manager, Jeremy Salhus, along with John Locker and look forward to another successful year of preserving history at the Pioneer Village in Pioneer Park.

Hope to see you soon at the Pioneer Village in Pioneer Park.

Sincerely,

Ferndale Heritage Society Board