Bellingham businesses participating in Black Lives Matter statewide day of action Friday

will remain open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will be donating all profits to Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County according to its Facebook page.

”We figured that it would do more for the cause to actually donate money instead of just taking the day off,” said Old World Manager Zach Holmes. “Several of us have already been to protests, made signs and everything. This seemed like a better option for us specifically.”

Other Bellingham businesses that will close Friday include Boundary Bay Brewery, Schweinhaus, Redlight, Aslan Brewing, Stones Throw Brewery, Wander Brewing and Leaf & Ladle.

“We stand with you,” said a meme on Leaf & Ladle’s Facebook page.

Elizabeth Station, which had been closed since March 24 because of measures to limit spread of the new coronavirus, delayed its reopening a day.

“Yes, we had originally said we’ll be open on Friday,” it said in an email to patrons. “But we want to respect the Black Lives Matter strike planned for Friday, and are going to wait a day.”

Ambo Ethiopian Cuisine wrote on Facebook that its restaurant will be open for lunch and close at 2 p.m. Friday.

Joe’s Garden’s will be open Friday but will donate all of its sales profits to Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County, which is organizing Friday’s strike, according to the business’s Facebook page.

“We all need to move forward together to effect change,” Joe’s Gardens said.

Meanwhile, several downtown businesses — including Mallard’s, Black Drop and The Shakedown — joined in opposition to members of the Three Percenters anti-government militia who told Bellingham Police and others that they came downtown with semiautomatic rifles to prevent looting in the wake of protests over the death of George Floyd and others in police custody.

“There’s no looting going on, if you’re making it about that,” said Oppelaar, who’s a disabled combat engineer who served in the Mideast at the beginning of the Iraq War.

He told The Herald that the group’s display of firearms was clearly intended to intimidate.

“It is a symptom of white privilege that these people think they can show up downtown with their assault rifles and say that they’re protecting my business ‘for freedom’ when what I know they’re saying is ‘from black people,’ ” Oppellaar wrote on his Facebook page.

Brad Lockhart, an artist who designed the new Bellingham flag, made a poster for businesses to display that depicts an AR-15 rifle with the iconic red circle and slash.

“This is the absolute least I can do,” he told The Herald.

For more information on the statewide silent march held in Seattle at 1 p.m. on Friday, contact info@blacklivesseattle.org or visit the organization’s website.