Welcome the Whales Festival @ Whidbey Island

Spring signals the arrival of so many delights, from flowers to baby animals and more. But the season also marks another, rather magical, event: the celebration of gray whales making their annual migration through Saratoga Passage.

To acknowledge their journey, the nonprofit Orca Network has been putting on the Welcome the Whales Festival for over two decades. Festivities take place in the town of Langley on Whidbey Island, and kick off with children and families gathering for all-age activities and to make marine life-themed costumes, followed by the main highlight — a vibrant and joyful parade of music and sea creature-clad participants, winding its way through the charming seaside town and down to Seawall Park, culminating in a welcoming ceremony.

The following day features a special impact screening of Franco Campos-Lopez Benyunes’ documentary, The Way of the Whale, at local independent theater, The Clyde, including a remote Q&A with the filmmaker after the screening. The film explores the impact of climate change on whales, protecting gray whales from industrialization, and a section on our local gray whales, aka. the “sounders.”

Throughout the weekend festival, you’ll be able to visit the Langley Whale Center, a project of Orca Network, with exhibits devoted to different Puget Sound-area whales and marine mammals. The Whale Center also includes a kids play and learning area, opportunities to adopt a gray whale and plenty of books, gifts and merch to peruse for sea fauna enthusiasts. Bonus? The proceeds support Orca Network and the Whale Center’s aim of education and action for whales. 

And if you happen to see a whale? Ring the bell! Located next to famed sculptor Georgia Gerber’s “Hope the Wishing Whale” at the top of Seawall Park, alerting the town with a few dings is a time-honored tradition.