While planners hope gray whales will show up to the Langley waterfront for Saturday’s first-ever “Welcome the Whales Day,” onshore it’s guaranteed to be an all-critter event.

The main event for the day will be a parade of species, featuring a 20-foot synthetic gray whale, as well as a costumed bear, eagle, snake, puffin, sea star, frog, slug and more.

Anyone can join the parade as a favorite animal. For those who don’t have an animal costume in the closet, a costume-making workshop will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Langley Methodist Church. Artists will be on hand to help anyone create a costume or mask for the parade.

“Welcome the Whales Day” is sponsored by the Orca Network as a way to honor and celebrate the spring arrival of the resident gray whales, who visit local waters from March through May each year.

The day will include a gray whale watch tour with Mosquito Fleet, a whale-watching company out of Everett. There will also be educational displays, kid’s activities, such as putting together a gray whale skeleton and learning about orcas, classic boat tours, a meditation time, presentations on gray whales, and the Quileute Tribal perspective on the history of gray whales. The day will conclude with a presentation on gray whales by researcher John Calambokidis of Cascadia Research.

Activities will take place at the Waterfront Park on First Street and Anthes, or at the Methodist Church at Third Street and Anthes. The parade begins at 3 pm at the top of First Street. Participants should meet next to city hall for parade staging at 2:30 p.m. For more information, contact Orca Network at 360-678-3451, or info@orcanetwork.org, or go to our web site for a full schedule of activities: http://www.orcanetwork.org/news/events.html .

Schedule of Activities:

Mosquito Fleet gray whale watch trips from Everett (10 a.m.) to Langley (10:30 a.m.) to Coupeville (noon) and back (2 p.m.), with a stop at the Coupeville Wharf to see “Rosie” the Gray Whale Skeleton. Contact Mosquito Fleet for reservations at: 800-325-6722 or go to

www.whalewatching.com.

10 a.m.: Meditation for the whales, Langley Methodist Church Fireside Room.

11 a.m.: Educational displays and presentations on whales, marine mammal strandings, Quileute Tribal history and future with the gray whale, and a presentation on the endangered western gray whales.

11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Classic boat tours of Saratoga Passage by the Classic Boat Club.

11 a.m.: Activities for kids of all ages. Assemble the Whale Museum’s gray whale skeleton, take part in fun activities with killer whale tales, and make a whale hat with Orca Network.

11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Costume-making workshop, Langley Methodist Church.

3 p.m.: Parade of species. Begin staging for the parade at 2:30 p.m. near City Hall and the library, at the top of First Street.

4 p.m.: John Calambokidis of Cascadia Research gives a presentation on Gray Whales at the Methodist Church.