Woe Canada! WA State Ferries enters 7th season without cross-border service
In her two years as the Anacortes Town Crier, Julie Nester has proclaimed and oyez, oyez, oyez’d at the community’s Christmas tree lighting, the Fourth of July parade and sister cities golf tournament. But one plum assignment is still missing from her town crier resume: the annual Anacortes to Sidney, British Columbia ferry route reopening ceremony, traditionally held in late March.
That gap persists because the century-old ferry connection between Anacortes, Friday Harbor and Vancouver Island remains suspended for a seventh year by Washington State Ferries. The international route shut down in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The main reason it is still down is the state’s shortage of ferryboats. Washington State Ferries says it is not able to restore the Sidney service until at least 2030. That’s when it expects to receive the first of three new 144-auto hybrid electric ferries on order. The agency emphasized that it hasn’t given up on reviving the route.
Anacortes’ honorary, unpaid town crier has fond memories from her younger years of riding the ferry to Canada. In an interview, Nester said she composes her own “cries” and knows what she would say when the international run returns.
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/03/17/woe-canada-wa-state-ferries-enters-7th-season-without-cross-border-service/