Nuzum: The man behind beloved Blaine and Birch Bay characters

For Blaine resident Greg Nuzum, dressing up and walking around town in costumes is a way to give back to the community and to make people smile.

Nuzum has been spotted around Blaine and Birch Bay dressed as Sasquatch, the Grinch and Spider-Man, to name a few, and what they all have in common is the ability to stop people in their tracks. Nuzum said anytime he’s in costume, all eyes are drawn to him.

“For me, I’m just a guy in a costume, but I’m not just a guy in a costume for those I interact with,” he said. 

While Nuzum said he faced challenges with drug and alcohol abuse during his youth, those challenges continue to motivate him to be the best person he can. “Your past doesn’t define who you are,” he said. “Your actions and choices do, so I do my best to choose love and joy.”

Nuzum began dressing up in costumes when he wore a Spider-Man suit to his grandson’s superhero-themed birthday party last winter. “The kids thought I was really Spider-Man and seeing the joy that costume created was a beautiful thing,” he said. 

With about 10 characters to choose from, Nuzum will post his whereabouts to his Instagram @sightings_of_blaine when he plans to step into a character role for the day and walk around Blaine or Birch Bay. Nuzum has had a history of community involvement long before he first stepped into the Spider-Man suit.

“I have coached soccer and basketball, helped raise over 100,000 pounds of food for Blaine Food Bank and work a full-time job as a warehouse worker at Nature’s Path Food,” he said. “Some people may think I must be lazy with no job, but that’s definitely not the case.”

Nuzum said he purchases most of his costumes from Amazon, but his wife has taken an interest in making some by hand including the rooster costume he was spotted wearing around Blaine and Birch Bay on March 27.

“For a lot of people, it’s their mission to find me around town so they can take a picture,” he said. “There have been times where I’ve had five to six families waiting for a picture.”

Since he first donned the Spider-Man suit, Nuzum has been sighted as Sasquatch in Lincoln Park and as the Grinch in downtown Blaine, and he plans to add even more characters to his repertoire – most recently, he appeared as the Easter bunny at the Birch Bay Easter egg hunt. 

Russell Chan remembers seeing Nuzum in costume for the first time in February. 

“I looked out the window of Paso Del Norte and saw Sasquatch walking by,” he said. “It was all a blur. At first I thought it was a great costume, and then I wished I had been able to take a picture.”

Chan said he is used to dressing up in costume in public as a member of a pirate and privateer reenactment club where he has done historical enactments at maritime festivals. “We are used to making a spectacle of ourselves and bringing a smirk to people’s faces,” he said.

While Chan currently lives in southern California, he plans to retire in Semiahmoo next year. “I was happy to see someone doing something whimsical like this,” he said. “Greg has presented a possibility for me to do something similar in the community when I move up and retire
permanently.”

Jocelyne Harsch said she saw Nuzum for the first time walking along Blaine Marina a few months ago. “Anywhere he’d go, people would stop and stare with smiles on their faces,” she said.

Harsch said she is impressed by the quality of the costumes he wears. “They look so authentic and add to the experience,” she said. “I think Greg Nuzum should be the official Blaine mascot.”

Nuzum said in a world full of stress and chaos the one thing we can control is our behavior toward others. He said he enjoys treating others with kindness and spreading love in the community he loves.

“I don’t do this for me,” he said. “I do it so others can take a moment to escape from the stresses of their day and to give them something to smile about.”