Everett is hosting a Bubble Run this Saturday.
What’s a Bubble Run, you ask? It’s another one of those 5K fun runs meant to reintroduce you to your inner child. Remember car washes and bathtub bubble beards? It will be like that. With lots and lots of bubbles.
A Bubble Run is not a race. While you do get numbered race bibs, no one will be timed.
Wearing white T-shirts, people of all ages run, walk, dance and play for 3.1 miles along Colby Avenue. At each kilometer along the course, runners go through “foam bogs,” where there is enough colored foam to cover you from head to toe. Sometimes the suds stack up to 6 feet high.
You may start the 5K with a white T-shirt, but you’ll finish with a rainbow one.
At the finish line there will be a big bubble party with even more bubbles. Bubble cannons will blast white frothy foam 60 feet into the crowd.
Cool Events LLC organizes Bubble Runs all over the U.S. The fun runs are put on in partnership with local and national charities. Everett’s charity partner is Today Tomorrow Forever, which partners with Scouting organizations.
“The (Cool Events) owner had the idea and, if I remember right, he wanted something that captures the fun of childhood,” said Entity Sterrett, Bubble Run spokeswoman, “and nothing encompasses that more than the fun and joy of bubbles.”
Your start time is based on a first-registered, first-run basis. Start times are staggered every 3 to 5 minutes.
Check in and pick up your race packet at Everett High School. The course starts at 24th Street and Wetmore Avenue and finishes at 24th and Colby Avenue. It’s mostly an out-and-back route on Colby. Find the map at www.bubblerun.com — just click the Course tab on the Everett page.
Volunteers and charity partners will be there to help make sure you get your share of the foamy fun.
Here are the Bubble Run safety guidelines:
■ When in a foam bog, be respectful of your fellow bubblers who are also trying to get through. This means no stopping for selfies in the middle of a bog or under the machines. Stopping not only causes a backup, but the bubbles also can get too high. Videos as you go through are encouraged.
■ “Kids should always hold their parent’s hands before entering,” Sterrett said. “Parents can get lost, turned around and scared inside the bubbles.”
■ Never sit, lay down, dive or make bubble angels in the bogs. The bubbles are deep — so lying down or sitting will most likely result in your getting stepped on.
■ Bogs are for one-way traffic only. Do not try to run back and forth, just go straight through.
■ “If you have a child in a stroller, bring goggles and a bandana to keep bubbles out of their eyes and mouths,” Sterrett said, adding that the bubbles are 100 percent safe. “As cool as they are, bubbles taste horrible.”
Another thing to note: The bubble machines won’t always be on.
“Even with the machines off, there will be plenty of frothy goodness to get through,” Sterrett said. “So if we turn the machine off, don’t fret, just keep going through and have fun.”
Arrive 60-90 minutes prior to your start time to give yourself plenty of time to park, pick up your Bubble Run swag and check in. Parking is $10. Bring exact cash.
Registration is $50 and includes a Bubble Run T-shirt, runner’s headband and temporary tattoo. Kids ages 4 and younger get in free — but they don’t get any race goodies.
VIP registration is $65 and includes a shirt, Wayfarer-style sunglasses, spirit bracelet and a VIP start zone.
Strollers and wagons are welcome, but bicycles or scooters aren’t.
If you go
What: Everett Bubble Run
Where: Everett High School, 2416 Colby Ave., Everett
When: Saturday
Tickets: General $50; VIP $65
More: www.bubblerun.com
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