Gary the Gray Whale loomed large.

Twenty-one foot in length, he made the other critters on stage, the bears, the frog, the snake, even the long-winged eagle, look tiny.

But what to do with Gary the Gray Whale after “Gaielle Remembering,” a play about the natural world produced at Langley’s Whidbey Center for the Arts, ended in 2003?

“Gary was like a Chinese dragon, 21-foot-long, with three people under him,” recalled Gail Fleming, who wrote the play. “He was like an articulated puppet. His tail went up and down.”

Gary was named for Gary Kay who built it for the play while the other animal costumes were made by artist, Deborah Koff-Chapin. At the same time, the Orca Network was looking for ways to celebrate the return of the gray whales every spring to Saratoga Passage and Possession Sound.

“‘Welcome the Whales’ was born and here we are 15 years later,” Susan Berta, co-founder of Orca Network, told the post-parade crowd gathered at Whale Bell Park Saturday afternoon. “This has to be the biggest and best parade we’ve ever had.”

Before the parade, children gathered at Langley Methodist Church to make whale hats, magic wands and other fun gear. The two-day festival sponsored by Orca Network and Langley Chamber of Commerce also included educational booths and speakers, a beach cleanup and a fundraising whale watching excursion.

As she has most years, Fleming donned the green and yellow frog suit from her long ago play and hopped in the whale and critter parade with flipper feet, croaking to giggling kids. A purple starfish waved at her, a big bear and little bear strolled by, a black-and-white orca took off his head and an eagle smiled with her wings.

“It’s still down-home funky Langley,” Fleming the Frog declared.

Just then, a cloth whale with lots of pairs of legs swam down the street.

“That’s Patch, not Gary,” Fleming pointed out. “The only thing left of Gary is his tail.”

Patch is the name given a real gray whale who’s returned every year and has a distinct white patch on his back.

Orca Network’s education and events coordinator, Cindy Hansen, and her husband Kraig, created Patch the Parade Whale three years ago.

Gary got grounded, so to speak, too beat-up from too many excursions around the block.

On Saturday, Gary the Tail wagged from the back of the town’s electric scooter. Meanwhile, Patch the Parade Whale rested on the ground post parade. A toddler repeatedly ran up to him, reaching down and tugging, perhaps willing the big mammal to get moving again.

But the kids will have to come back next year, just like the whales.

Kids couldn’t keep away from Patch the Parade Whale, named after the first gray whale identified in 1991 and a favorite among local whale watchers. Photos by Patricia Guthrie/Whidbey News Group

Welcome the Whales Parade and Festival featured lots of kids dressed as their favorite sea creatures.

Three South Whidbey women who sparked the idea for a whale parade 15 years ago are Susan Berta of Orca Network (flukes) artist Deborah Koff-Chapin (center in wet suit) and playwright Gail Fleming (frog).

A killer whale considers snacking on a starfish since The Dog House hasn’t served salmon in eons.

A crocodile sitting on the curb and others along the parade route watch Conducter of Fun Jim Freeman do his thing.

So many critters, so many colors under a gray sky day welcoming the gray whales.

Marchers walk behind the whale tail end of an electric scooter that carried elderly parade-goers. The whale tail, or flukes, are all that’s left of the original parade whale named Gary the Gray Whale.

Following the whale tail trail of an old friend named Gary.

A ceremony near the water at Whale Bell Park included poems, songs, a proclamation, blessings and flower blossoms that floated out to sea. The crowd was estimated to be the largest ever for the two-day festival that included educational talks, a beach clean-up, costume-making activities and a fundraising whale boat excursion.

“This is the most kid-centric parade I’ve ever seen and the biggest ever,” declared Howard Garrett, a whale activist dressed as an orca. Beside him are Susan Berta and rainbow jester and emcee Jim Freeman. This is the 15th year Orca Network’s event educated the public about the gray whale “Sounders” that feed on ghost shrimp in the mudflats of Whidbey and Camano Islands for about six weeks from March to May.

As Peter Lawlor, South Whidbey’s poet laureate, reads one of his poems dedicated to the visiting whales, lots of little ones wanted to pet Patch the Parade Whale.

Three people in wet suits carried branches of blossoms out into deep water as the final welcoming tribute to the whales. The afternoon before, three gray whales scoured for ghost shrimp near this spot at high tide.