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Winners of Ivar’s “Where’s the Ferry?” Contest

Eric Arnold lived in Seattle for many years before he and his wife, Deb, relocated to Whidbey Island.

The Mukilteo/Clinton ferry became an integral part of their lives as they traveled back and forth from the island to the Seattle area.

During their travels, the Arnolds often stopped at Ivar's on the waterfront for lunch or dinner. Earlier this summer, they noticed that Ivar's was soliciting entries for a contest called "Where's the Missing Ferry?"

The Washington State ferry terminal in Mukilteo had moved 400 yards east in December 2020, and the Port of Everett created a new parklet where the loading lanes use to sit.

With its tongue firmly planted in its cheek, Ivar's posed the ultra-serious question: Where's the missing ferry?

"We just recently moved to Whidbey Island, so the whereabouts of the ferry is of real importance to us because we take it all the time," Arnold said. "And when we saw the contest, we thought this is one for us."

Much to his surprise and delight, Arnold's song, "What Happened to the Mukilteo Ferry?" (listen here) was named the grand prizewinner out of 200 entries. Arnold was invited to perform his song during the awards ceremony Friday, Sept. 2, at the parklet. Arnold won free fish and chips for a year. Six runner-ups received $150 in Ivar's gift cards, and everyone had dinner courtesy of Ivar's.

Arnold, a retired social studies teacher from the Auburn School District, said he always enjoyed music and periodically has played in different bands. He currently is a member of a trio called Ticket to Groove, and the Arnolds also play as a duo in retirement communities.

Arnold decided he would write a song for the contest. It took him about two or three hours to produce an outline. He then spent about a week working on the composition.

"Whenever I'm doing anything like writing songs, I come back to it two or three times and kind of refine it," Arnold said. "Then I recorded it onto my phone."

Arnold had never entered any songwriting contests before, but sent off his entry to Ivar's. He thought the contest would be flooded with a lot of great entries.

"I wrote a little ditty that I thought was kind of cute, but I thought there are going to be real artists," Arnold said.

Ivar's sent Arnold an email informing him he was one of the finalists. He later received an invitation to Friday's event.

"I'm assuming we're going to get a certificate, but somebody else is going to win," Arnold said. "So it was a delightful surprise."

Arnold performed his song with his guitar, singing "the Mukilteo ferry had vanished seemingly into thin air. One day it was cruising to Whidbey, and the next day it just wasn't there."

In the song, Arnold comes to realize that "when I looked just a bit to my right; a couple hundred yards toward Everett a shiny new terminal lay ..."

"So if you're waiting in line and Ivar's sounds fine, it's now just a short little walk," Arnold sang.

Ivar's President Bob Donegan said the company has always taken pride in its creative advertising campaigns and contests.

"So when the parklet opened, people started coming in and asking what happened to the ferry," he said. "That's where the idea came from. We had more than 200 people submit entries from kids up to people in their 90s."

The six runner-ups and their categories were:

Song: Brian Knudson

Poetry: Claudia Levi

Art: Clara Orndorff

Kids: Chelsea Lilleness

TV show: Frank Pival

UFO: William Vogel

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