To the editor:

Orca Network would like to thank the many people who helped make our fifth annual Welcome the Whales Day parade and festival a success in Langley on April 19, in spite of the snow!

A special thank you to Fred Lundahl and the Langley Chamber of Commerce for co-sponsoring the event this year and to the South Whidbey Rotary Club for once again providing important funding for the event.

We were joined by many organizations in providing fun and educational activities for kids of all ages – including the Seattle Aquarium, Killer Whale Tales, American Cetacean Society/Puget Sound, WSU Beach Watchers with their wonderful microscopes and displays, the Penn Cove Water Festival, the Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the Whale Museum and “stinky Bill” the gray whale skeleton, and Cascadia Research.

Thanks also to Jim Freeman for announcing the shortest parade in town, to Gary Kay for creating “Gary the Gray whale,” to Martha Murphy for her great face-painting services, to Mark Wahl for gathering drummers brave enough to parade and drum between snow flurries and to Windwalker Taibi and Lorraine Bayes for providing wonderful blessings and songs at the waterfront after the parade.

Remarkably, the snow showers stopped just as the parade began, the clouds cleared and the SUN actually made an appearance during and after the parade!

We were pleased to know the good folks of Langley will show up for a parade no matter what the weather is doing and would like to thank everyone who participated in any way.

We look forward to seeing you again next year to help us welcome in the gray whales!

Susan Berta and Howard Garrett

Orca Network