Father’s Day picnic showcases this new Bellingham non-profit foundation and barbershop
Fatherhood Foundation is hosting a Father’s Day Picnic on Saturday, June 18, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The picnic will feature live music, dance performances, games, face painting, free haircuts, barbecue food and basketball tournaments. Brian Womack, CEO of Fatherhood Foundation, said the event will feature local artists working in a variety of mediums. Womack is also owner and co-manager of Headquarters Barbershop in Bellingham, the main sponsor of the event.
Glenda Ramos, co-manager of Headquarters Barbershop, said most of their events will feature live artists from the Pacific Northwest.
“(We want) to allow people to come to us and know that if they want to become a part of the foundation they have a platform and a venue they can showcase their music, art, talents, dancing; anything that allows them to feel free,” Ramos said. “This foundation is something to allow people to express themselves freely, authentically and uniquely.”
Ramos also said this event is kind of a soft opening to present the businesses they are establishing within the venue.
Fatherhood Foundation is a non-profit organization that helps fathers acclimate with society after being incarcerated. Womack said they are going to be giving fathers a safe space to reconnect with their children at Headquarters Barbershop.
“We actually help a lot of fathers when they’re coming home from prison or just struggling on the street,” Womack said. “We give them resources, show them how to get on financial aid for college, try to get them housing, just walking through the steps; but more importantly, the mission is to bring that connection back home to their children.”
Womack opened Headquarters Barbershop in 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic started to fizzle out.
“(In 2019) I was in transition from a barbershop where I had been cutting hair for three or four years,” Womack said. “I just felt like I had maxed out and I needed my own, I wanted to do something bigger. This has always been my vision, to open up a different type of barbershop.”
Headquarters Barbershop is not just a barbershop. The building also features a music and dance studio, a yoga studio, a game room, a tattoo parlor and a soon-to-open coffee bar next door. Womack said they are hoping to open the coffee bar the first weekend of July and it will be a venue available to rent for performances.
“This has been my vision for years and years, at least 20 years,” Womack said. “When I started it, I was in Canada and there were no barbershops (life this) in Canada, my dream was to push making a different type of barbershop. I wasn’t able to do it in Canada, I came home and wasn’t able to do it around here because the money was just ridiculous so I was able to really get in where I fit in.”
Ramos said she is really proud to be a part of this foundation and barbershop because she’s happy to provide a safe place for various minority communities.
“It’s important to me to allow people of color, (people of different) ethnicities and the LGBT community to know that we’re here with welcoming arms to allow them to express themselves just for existing, for them being them,” Ramos said. “We want this to be a building and a business that allows people to create, manifest positive energies and be able to express themselves authentically through what they do creatively.”
Womack is a Black man, which he said can make it difficult to open a business in a predominately white area like Bellingham, but he said he hasn’t faced any difficulties opening his business because of his race.
“I believe in good energy and my building welcomes good energy. I’m sure it’s out there, I’m sure there’s roadblocks but as a spiritual being, I just believe that everything is possible,” Womack said. “When it comes to those types of roadblocks, I haven’t seen them and I might be a lucky Black guy in the bunch but I’ve been getting more support from the community.”
Womack said other local businesses, people in the community and clients have all helped grow his business.
“I cut a well diverse group,” Womack said “A lot of my clients that I cut, of different ethnicities, usually come back and donate or want to provide. I cut a few contractors, they come back and help me with wood, so a lot of stuff is donated. Matter of fact, pretty much everything you’ve seen in here, aside from a few things, has been donated.”
Ramos agreed with Womack. She said how you project your energy and the way you carry yourself in the community has a lot to do with who you are as a person and not necessarily your race or your color or what your hair type is.
“I think what he’s saying is very adamant to the point that we’re welcoming with open arms if you have positive energy,” Ramos said.
Ramos also runs Honey Hu$tle Entertainment in the same building which helps empower women of all ethnicities to be able to create and feel uniquely beautiful in their skin with no judgment.
Headquarters Barbershop is at 1211 Cornwall Ave. and the picnic will be hosted next door at 1209 Cornwall Ave. More information can be found on their website, Facebook page and Instagram page.
This story was originally published June 17, 2022 at 12:42 PM.
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