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Local artists’ paintings burned in Fairhaven Terminal Building fire

For one local artist, 14 paintings that took years were lost to the flames

Dec. 29, 2023 5:00 a.m.

By Charlotte Alden General Assignment/Enterprise Reporter

If you ever visited the Harris Avenue Cafe or The Old Independent Coffeehouse in Fairhaven's Terminal Building, you likely noticed paintings by local artists on the walls. That was true Dec. 16, the night the Terminal Building went up in flames. Megan Velthuizen, a Whatcom County painter, lost all 14 of her paintings that were hanging in the Harris Avenue Cafe. Velthuizen said the collection took six or seven years to complete. The paintings were mostly acrylic and oil paint