The Bothell area is home to a Sikh
gurdwara, a regional
mosque, and the first consecrated
Hindu temple in the Pacific Northwest, which opened in 2014.
Arts Bothell has several pieces of public art, primarily located in downtown or on the University of Washington Bothell and Cascadia College campus. The city government created an arts advisory committee and adopted a
percent for art ordinance in 2009 to fund the creation of public artwork and other programs. The committee was replaced by a formal Arts Commission in 2017 with seven members appointed by the city council to manage and promote the public arts program. A
gallery at the new city hall is curated by the Arts Commission with room for paintings, sculptures, and on-screen artwork. The city's downtown is home to an
art walk, the Bothell Art Scene, with several participating businesses and art studios. Other pieces of public art in the city include a series of
murals on downtown buildings that depict Bothell's history and pioneers. They were first painted in 1989 to honor the city's centennial, but some were lost in the late 1990s to redevelopment. From 1981 to 2019, Bothell was home to Country Village, a themed shopping center with stores that catered towards the arts community. It had 45 independent businesses in several historic buildings that were repurposed for use by artisan stores,
antique shops, and restaurants. Country Village also hosted an annual
driftwood sculpture contest and the Museum of Special Art, an art museum for works created by people with disabilities. The city's largest performing arts venue, the Northshore Performing Arts Center, opened in 2005 at Bothell High School and seats 600 people. It is operated by the Northshore School District and was funded with assistance from a volunteer organization that sought to build a regional theater at a cost of $5 million. The city government's Parks Department organizes five annual events, including the
Fourth of July parade (also known as the Freedom Festival), which featured a
reenactment of the
Battles of Lexington and Concord. Other events include an
Arbor Day celebration,
trick-or-treating on Halloween, and a Winter Porch Light Parade in December. The winter festival also includes the lighting of a
Christmas tree; from 1929 to 1979, a
Douglas fir on Main Street was decorated annually by the city. It was recognized as the "largest living Christmas tree in the world" by
Life magazine in December 1962; the top of the tree was later removed due to disease and a replacement was planted near the city museum. Other events are hosted by community organizations, such as the annual Bothell
block party and
brewfest sponsored by University of Washington Bothell and the local
chamber of commerce. The annual "Sustainamania" has been held in Bothell since 2012 to promote
sustainable living, conservation, and education. A weekly community market, named the Bothell Friday Market, launched in 2019 in response to the closure of Country Village, which formerly hosted a
farmers' market. An annual bicycle ride, named the Summits of Bothell, was held in the 2000s along a course in the city with of elevation gain. In 2007, about 5,000 to 7,000 people gathered for a parade and outdoor concert at the Veterans Memorial Amphitheater at Bothell Landing in honor of local
American Idol contestant
Blake Lewis. The Cup of Kindness Day, created by a local coffeeshop owner and held on May 10, 2018, was cited by ''
Reader's Digest'' in its awarding of "Nicest Places in America" honors to Bothell and nine other cities that year.
Media The Bothell area has one weekly newspaper, the
Bothell-Kenmore Reporter, which is owned by
Sound Publishing and also serves nearby Kenmore. It was first published in 1933 as the
Bothell Citizen and became the
Northshore Citizen in 1961 as its coverage grew outside the city's boundaries. The newspaper became a semimonthly publication in January 2002, receiving its current name in the process; the
Reporter restored its weekly schedule two months after Sound Publishing acquired the newspaper in November 2006. The first newspapers published in the city included the
Bothell Independent from 1903 to 1904 and the
Bothell Sentinel from 1908 to 1935. Bothell is also part of the
Seattle–Tacoma media market and is served by Seattle-based media outlets. The region's largest newspaper,
The Seattle Times, operated a production facility in the city's North Creek business district from 1992 to 2020, when it closed amid an industry-wide decline in print revenue. The
Seattle Post-Intelligencer was also printed at the facility until it shifted to online-only publication in 2009. The Snohomish County side of the city is served by
The Everett Herald, a sister paper to the
Reporter under the ownership of Sound Publishing. Broadcast-based media outlets that serve the city include television stations
KOMO-TV,
KING-TV,
KIRO-TV, and
KCPQ; as well as various radio stations.
Library , operated by the
King County Library System Bothell's
public library has been operated by the
King County Library System (KCLS) since 1946. The city's first library was established at the
Odd Fellows Hall on Main Street in 1905 and was followed by private libraries in local businesses and homes. A public library was established on January 19, 1925, after a fundraising campaign led by local women, at the American Hotel and had 1,000 books. The Bothell city council voted to move the library into the city hall in 1928; the city hall was replaced with a new building in 1936 that included more space for a library. The city government contracted with KCLS to operate the library, which remained at city hall, beginning in 1946. A $280,000
bond issue was approved by voters in 1967 to construct a separate, building for the library. It was dedicated on July 6, 1969, and held 33,000 books; the library was noted for its natural duck habitat and garden. The Bothell branch was one of the fastest-growing KCLS libraries by the 1980s and a replacement was planned; voters approved full annexation of Bothell into KCLS in November 1986, which was followed two years later by a KCLS bond issue to construct a new library. Initial plans to expand the existing building were scrapped in favor of a new building with of space to serve as a regional library, to be the largest in North King County at the time. The new Bothell library opened on September 18, 1995, and housed 200,000 books and other materials; the old library was purchased outright by the city government and used for various departments until it was demolished in 2016.
Historic preservation Bothell has nine properties that are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) due to their cultural, architectural, or historic qualities. Several properties are surviving homes from early city pioneers built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that were later moved to the Park at Bothell Landing. Other listed sites include the
Bothell Pioneer Cemetery,
Bates-Tanner Farm, In 1987, the city government established its own local register of historic places, which is managed by the Landmark Preservation Board appointed by the city council. It has 15 properties that include those on the NRHP and the
Washington State Heritage Register, as well as additional sites that are over 50 years old. The Bothell Historical Museum, a non-profit museum run by the local
historical society, is located within the Hannan House on the grounds of the Park at Bothell Landing. It opened in 1969 and was relocated to the new park in 1978. The museum is open on Sundays from April through October (aside from a two-year hiatus induced by the
COVID-19 pandemic); it is furnished with contemporary artifacts from a late 19th-century home and those related to the city's history. The historical society also funded several restoration projects, including work on the Beckstrom Cabin, built in 1883 and moved to the park grounds in 1979.
Sports Pop Keeney Stadium in Downtown Bothell was built in 1920 and seats 4,438 spectators. It is primarily used by high school football teams from the Northshore School District, having originally hosted only Bothell High School. The stadium was renamed during renovations in 1953 for Harold "Pop" Keeney, a local high school football coach. Its original stands were replaced in 1968 and the stadium was renovated again in 2010. ==Government and politics==