Bellingham graffiti rock finally gets a face . . . but it’s all covered up
It’s been a face for what’s going on and what people are feeling in Bellingham and Whatcom County for more than 50 years, and it finally got a face of its own over Labor Day weekend — though most of it was covered up.
The boulder often referred to as “graffiti rock,” “the rock,” “Bellingham rock” and “Samish rock,” sported a new pandemic-worthy coating of paint that serves as a reminder to help slow the spread of coronavirus by wearing face coverings.
Already a prime example for social distancing, as it sits alone perched above northbound Interstate 5 lanes approximately four miles south of Bellingham, the rock’s latest paint coating gave it a face that was covered up by a mask fashioned out of what appears to be gray plastic sheets.
Burrell Jull noted the rock’s new look Saturday afternoon, snapped some photos and alerted The Bellingham Herald to its new look.
“I had nothing to do with the painting,” Jull said in an email.
The Bellingham Rock Facebook page, which asks people to share pictures and stories of painting the rock, already changed its profile picture to an image of the face-covered rock on Sept. 3, with one comment saying, “Mask-up Whatcom!” The profile picture change has already has 100 reactions and 71 shares.
The rock has been a place for Whatcom County to paint messages of celebration, love and loss since shorty after I-5 through Bellingham was completed in 1966.
Dan McNamara and his family previously told The Herald he was the first person to paint the rock when he did so in August 1969 as a 17-year-old high school student. He wrote “Sealth ‘70” to commemorate his class at Chief Sealth High School in Seattle after seeing the rock and deciding to paint his message.
The rock has since been painted, then repainted, so many times over the years — sometimes in quick succession — that the layers of paint are many inches thick.
Earlier this summer, the Washington State Department of Transportation covered a “White Power” message that ignited social media outrage after it was painted on the rock a few days after it read “Black Lives Matter.”
