Submitted by the Orca Network.

Orca Network and the Langley Chamber of Commerce will host the annual Welcome the Whales Parade and Festival the weekend of April 11-13, featuring a full schedule of activities for all ages. The festival, sponsored by Whidbey Telecom, celebrates the return of the “Sounders,” a group of gray whales who divert from their northern migration along the Washington coast each spring to spend a few weeks feeding on the ghost shrimp that occur along Whidbey shorelines.

Currently 10 Sounders have been confirmed in North Puget Sound by Orca Network’s Whale Sighting Network and Cascadia Research Collective: CRC22 “Earhart,” CRC53 “Little Patch,” CRC56 “Stardust,” CRC356 “Carson,” CRC383 “Cascade,” CRC531 “Gretchen,” CRC2246 “Azulão,” CRC2249 “Hattie,” CRC2356 “Stalwart” and CRC2362 “Thidwick.” An eleventh gray whale, CRC2557, has been seen off the northwest coast of Whidbey Island this year for the second spring in a row, but has not traveled south around Possession Point to join the Sounders.

The gray whale population as a whole declined significantly during an Unusual Mortality Event from 2019-2023. The current population is now estimated to be around 17,000, but many of the Sounders appear to have survived thanks to the reliable food supply they have found here.

Welcome the Whales will kick off on Friday, April 11, with a Whale and Marine Mammal Trivia Night hosted at Thirsty Crab Brewery in Clinton from 5-7 p.m. This free, family-friendly event will feature four rounds of engaging questions. One dollar from every beverage sold will go directly to Orca Network, and food will be available from the Build a Brat food truck.

Saturday, April 12, festivities begin at 11 a.m. at the Langley United Methodist Church (Third Street and Anthes Avenue) with hands-on educational displays, costume-making, face painting and children’s activities. The Whale and Critter Parade in downtown Langley will stage at 1:30 p.m. at the Whidbey Center for the Arts parking lot (Sixth Street and Camano Avenue) and begin at 2 p.m., following Cascade Avenue and First Street. All are welcome to walk in the parade; no vehicles larger than golf carts are permitted.

Parade participants are encouraged to wear costumes from home or the costume-making party. A limited number of costumes are also available to check out prior to the parade from a booth in the staging area and may be returned to Langley Whale Center afterward. The parade concludes at the Waterfront “Whale Bell” Park on First Street and will be followed immediately by a Whale Welcome Celebration featuring music, short presentations and a waterside ceremony, while watching for gray whales in Saratoga Passage.

The Langley Whale Center at 105 Anthes will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with displays about gray whales, staffed by Orca Network’s Langley Whale Center docents.

At noon on Sunday, April 13, Langley Whale Center will host “Gray Whale Chronicles: Past and Present Stories from the Field” with two of the pioneers of gray whale research: Jim Darling, who has been studying seasonal resident gray whales off the west coast of Vancouver Island since the 1970s, and John Calambokidis, who founded Cascadia Research Collective in 1979 and has documented the Sounders since their arrival in north Puget Sound in 1990. This presentation will be hybrid, both in person and virtual. Register for the webinar at https://givebutter.com/0pXScK.

The festival concludes with a fundraising boat trip with Puget Sound Express, departing Langley Marina at 3 p.m. to look for gray whales (tickets available at https://givebutter.com/UxhTlZ).

For over 20 years, Orca Network has been connecting people and whales of the Pacific Northwest through their Whale Sighting Network, Langley Whale Center, Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network and a wide variety of education programs. Anyone who sees a wild whale is encouraged to report it to sightings@orcanetwork.org or by calling 866 ORCANET (672-2638). Sounders gray whale ID guides and symbolic adoptions are available for purchase at the Langley Whale Center or at Orca Network’s webshop: https://www.orcanetwork.org/webshop/digital-products.

For more information about Welcome the Whales weekend or Orca Network’s Whale Sighting Network, visit our website at www.OrcaNetwork.org or contact Cindy Hansen at cindy@orcanetwork.org.