Here’s a short article on the Bellingham Web Designers Unite! group that I am a part of:

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Web Designers Unite! article

New club provides Web designers face-to-face time
Michelle Nolan for the Bellingham Herald

Josh Parrish loves to play around with computers, but he also likes interacting with people.

The result is Web Designers Unite!, a club that he and two friends founded last year to foster in-person camaraderie among local tech enthusiasts.

The 28-year-old Bellingham resident, who likes to grow some of his own food and has chickens in his Sunnyland yard, got in on the ground floor of Web design 14 years ago as a high school freshman. He has spent countless hours teaching himself advanced computer skills, yet has remained an avid snowboarder and outdoorsman.

Married and the father of two, he manages online communications for the admissions department at Western Washington University.

About the club: “The club was hatched when a friend who works in Web design, Ritama Haaga, and I were talking in a coffee shop, and we got around to saying how neat it would be to get together a group of Web designers for happy hours,” said Parrish, who noted that Pam Nilzon also is a co-founder.

About a dozen people came to the club’s first meeting, in February 2008, at Boundary Bay Brewery and Bistro. Now, monthly gatherings routinely draw more than twice that many Web designers, and membership has risen to about 40.

“We each have our specialties, and being able to share resources has really been beneficial,” Parrish said. “We’re learning a lot from each other.”

Why founded: “I’ve always enjoyed sharing my passions about computers,” Parrish said. “I’d drag my high school friends into it. It wasn’t exactly kicking and screaming, but I would definitely share what I was learning and doing. Now we do that in the club.”

Major events: The club meets monthly, usually the third Thursday at 5 p.m. at a local restaurant, with sites announced online.

The club doesn’t hold major events yet, but Parrish dreams of hosting a Bellingham convocation of Web design clubs.

Member stories: Parrish said Nathan Carnes is an archeologist turned Web designer, having honed his computer skills while majoring in archeology at Western.

Haaga runs her own Web design company and is an accomplished glass blower. Her creations can be seen at ritama.com

Seth Thomas is one of the leaders of The INN University Ministries in Bellingham, a fellowship for college students, Parrish said, and likes to spend his summers developing his Web design skills.

CLUB AT A GLANCE

Name: Web Designers Unite!

Purpose: Foster camaraderie and knowledge among local web designers.

Year started: 2008.

Number of members: 40.

Contacts: 319-6672 or keylime@gmail.com Online: webdesignersunite.com

Leadership: Founding members are Josh Parrish, Ritama Haaga and Pam Nilzon.