Event organizers are urging festivalgoers and race spectators to walk, bike, or use transit to reach Fairhaven on Sunday.

While Bellingham's Fairhaven neighborhood is blessed with incredible natural scenery, the local topography does not necessarily lend itself well to accommodating an influx of cars, SUVs, and trucks for special events. Wedged between the foothills of the Chuckanut Mountains and Bellingham Bay, there are only so many ways to drive in and out of Fairhaven — primarily Chuckanut Drive, Old Fairhaven Parkway, Harris Avenue, plus the S. State Street and Boulevard corridor from Downtown Bellingham — and only so many places for motorists to park and store their vehicles. 

And that will especially be the case on Sunday, May 26 when thousands of locals and visitors alike will converge on Fairhaven for two separate events: The Fairhaven Festival and the finish line for Ski to Sea 2024, a grueling 92-mile, multi-sport relay race where teams start at Mount Baker and end in Marine Park after a sea kayak trek across Bellingham Bay.

Event organizers are urging festivalgoers and race spectators to walk, bike, or use transit to reach Fairhaven to ease Sunday's inevitable traffic congestion and the neighborhood parking crunch. Most streets west of 12th Street in the heart of Fairhaven will be closed to accommodate the street festival. As Ski to Sea organizers have warned on their Finish Line information page: "Don’t hassle with traffic and parking, take the BUS!" 

BhamByBus wholeheartedly agrees! 

  • Route 14: As the Cascadia Daily News and WhatcomTalk reported, the Whatcom Transit Authority plans to run additional bus service along Route 14 (Downtown Bellingham to Fairhaven via WWU), with buses coming approximately every 15 minutes between 11:30 a.m.–7:15 p.m., after which Route 14 will return to its normal Sunday service with buses once an hour. Route 14 serves WWU's C Lots (at the Bill McDonald Parkway & Rec Center stop), where free parking will be available. The bus trip to Fairhaven from the C Lots is less than 10 minutes. In Fairhaven, the stop at 12th Street & McKenzie Avenue, outside the Haggen grocery store, is the best place to catch Route 14 out of Fairhaven.
  • Route 1: In addition to Route 14, buses on Route 1 (Downtown Bellingham to Fairhaven via State Street) will be available to shuttle people into and out of Fairhaven. The 12th Street & McKenzie Avenue stop, outside the Haggen grocery store, is a good spot to catch Route 1 to Downtown Bellingham. Route 1 is also handy to avoid parking headaches at Taylor Dock (11th Street & Bennett Avenue southbound and 11th Street & Taylor Avenue northbound) and Boulevard Park (S. State Street & 12th Street).        
  • From the 12th Street & McKenzie Avenue stop for Routes 1 and 14, the Fairhaven Festival will be taking place on adjacent streets in the neighborhood's historic commercial core. To reach the finish line for Ski to Sea, head west along Harris Avenue from 12th Street, about 10–15 minutes.  
A hand-drawn diagram for WTA Routes 1 and 14 and transit connections to and from Fairhaven for the Fairhaven Festival and the finish line for Ski to Sea 2024 in Marine Park. (Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

I created this special hand-drawn diagram for WTA Routes 1 and 14 to better illustrate how you can reach all the festivities in Fairhaven via transit, which also includes bike and walking connections via the Interurban Trail and South Bay Trail.  

If you've never used a WTA bus before, it's $1 per ride or $3 for a day pass (exact change only), or use the Umo mobile app to pay your bus fare by scanning it when boarding.