When Erin and Bill Webster arrived in Snohomish in 2019, they instantly felt that they had found home. When asked the question, “What brought you to Snohomish?” Bill will tell you, “We were destined to arrive here. We made an offer on a house on a Friday, they accepted on Monday. It was the only house we made an offer on, and we were under contract by Tuesday, it was serendipitous.”
2020 and the pandemic offered new opportunities for the couple to give back to community. They began to deliver food to those who could not get out of their homes. In 2023 when they were asked to take over Kla Ha Ya Days, they felt there were areas that they could make the event feel more community centric while attracting the 20,000 attendees who visit the festivities. They went to work asking their favorite question, “What does Snohomish need?” A shuttle service to relieve parking and to shuttle attendees from a location with plenty of parking down to First Street where most visitors are drawn to events, restaurants, and shops.
They began by looking for sponsors and applied for a small grant. With the money they were able to raise, they purchased a 1992 Ford F350 20-passenger shuttle bus with 278,000 miles on it, the only drawback was that it was in Cle Elum. Bill’s response, “Well, this is exactly what we are looking for, we don’t want to spend $50,000 on something that we are not sure if we need or if the community will find useful. So, this is perfect if it makes it home it is meant to be, and if it doesn’t, we will just have another adventure in the books and we will figure it out.”
Thankfully the bus made it home, and the first event that they used it for was the Snohomish Block Party in August where they carried over 200 passengers to and from and the response was overwhelmingly positive. They then continued to shuttle for other events throughout the summer and early fall. At this point Bill and Erin had been running a shuttle for free, to get the word out and any tips have been donated to the local food banks.
Unfortunately, in October, while shuttling for the Lake Stevens Farmers Market the bus was in an accident that totaled the vehicle, the catch was that Bill had given his word that the shuttle service would be available for the harvest festival at the end of the month in Snohomish, so as they went about wrestling with the insurance company the Snohomish community rose up and started a GoFundMe to raise the needed money to replace the bus. Between the fundraiser and the Websters “cobbling the rest of the funds together,” they now are the proud owners of a 2014 Ford F350 14-passenger Shuttle bus that runs on propane.
What does the future look like for this community enterprise? “We would love to have a second bus in the future so that the wait times can be shorter for riders. Right now, we cooperate with local schools as pick up and drop off areas, which is again wonderful to continue to build community. We also hope to hire a driver, so that Erin or I are not the ones that are always driving for events, all these things will just allow us to do more.” In addition, they are hoping to gain some sponsors for this endeavor who would like to advertise on the bus so that the shuttle can remain free to its riders.
Bill and Erin are still figuring out what this will look like but are hopeful that as the word gets out, there is an option in the area the community will be embraced, and parking will no longer be a deterrent for visitors to explore and discover the treasure that is our beautiful community.
If you are interested in scheduling Snohomish Shuttles for an event or if your business is interested in partnering with the service for future community events you can reach Bill and Erin on their Facebook page Snohomish Shuttle Service or email them at snohomishshuttleservice@gmail.com.
“We were destined to arrive here. It was the only house we made an offer on, and we were under contract by Tuesday, it was serendipitous.”
“We would love to have a second bus in the future so that the wait times can be shorter for riders. Right now, we cooperate with local schools as pick up and drop off areas, which is again wonderful to continue to build community."