Snohomish County News

Traffic, parking will be challenging issues for this year’s Lighthouse Festival
MUKILTEO - Planning for this fall’s Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival is underway, but already traffic concerns are creating major roadblocks for organizers.
Sunday afternoons at the festival are usually slower than other times, so a historical group pitched holding a ceremony in honor of the 155th anniversary of the Point Elliott Treaty during the lull in the festival.
“It will bring together descendants of the native and nonnative signers of the treaty,” said Amy Johnson, a direct descendant of Seattle-founder David T. Denny. “It is going to be a really special, significant remembrance.”
The event would bring together 10 tribes, descendants of settlers and interested residents to re-enact the signing and celebrate with singing and drumming.
Just one problem, say festival organizers: There’s no room.
The festival shuts down the waterfront to all cars except ferry traffic, and every year parking and shuttles are a navigation nightmare for attendees.
“Last year, we needed a zip-line to get down there,” said Jennifer Berner, recreation and cultural services manager for Mukilteo.
So accommodating hundreds of American Indians and crowds of history enthusiasts from the Puget Sound region would be close to impossible.
Johnson says she is doing more research to find out how many people the ceremony would bring in, but the event is already drawing interest from people across the country.
“We could get as many people as they can fit” by the lighthouse, Johnson said.
Running a train from Seattle to the festival could alleviate some of the parking problem. Last year’s festival drew between 10,000 and 12,000 over the weekend, organizers say.
Even if the Lighthouse Festival won’t work for a treaty signing re-creation, festival organizers said they were enthusiastic about the event. Mukilteo has held similar celebrations with the Tulalip Tribes.
“It was emotionally and visually incredibly moving,” said Terry Thompson Preshaw Thornley about one similar ceremony. For many residents, the event was an act of reconciliation and reaching out to local tribes.
“It was more than a gesture,” Thornley said. “It was very meaningful.”
Johnson said ceremonies that bring residents together with local tribes are popular, especially after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics showcased so much American Indian culture during their ceremonies.
“It is just something our country is ready for,” Johnson said. “I think it is time for our country to catch up.”
Whether the treaty signing re-creation happens during the festival or not, organizers have already started tackling transportation problems tied to the festival.
“You have to have a plan,” said Councilman Kevin Stoltz, who is chair of the council’s transportation committee.
Stoltz says he hopes to try out transportation plans during a new event called Waterfront Wednesdays, a weekly gathering in Lighthouse Park for residents. If Waterfront Wednesdays becomes a reality, organizers will have many of the same issues that the Lighthouse Festival does.
During last week’s meeting, about 20 residents gathered to give their input, especially with parking plans. Many said they were concerned about safety for pedestrians walking busy roads with few crosswalks to get to the festival and about drivers headed to the waterfront causing traffic jams for ferry traffic.
Mukilteo’s City Council has approved the funding to study building a pedestrian underpass to give residents a safe way to get across traffic to the waterfront, but the city doesn’t have the funding to build the actual underpass, Stoltz said.
For now, the group is considering many new options, including parking at Future of Flight and running shuttles to Rosehill Community Center.
For more information on the Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival, log on to www.mukilteolighthousefestival.com.

By LINDSAY TOLER
Published March 10, 2010