When it comes to timely whale-spotting, Langley’s reputation may be saved by the bell.

An early-warning system was erected in the nick of time this past weekend for this year’s gray whale migration. An early gray was spotted Saturday near the mainland between Tulalip and Marysville, heading south in Possession Sound.

For years, Langley has been THE place on Whidbey Island to watch the grays — 50-foot-long, 36-ton roving appetites — that tend to show up between early March and early June.

The whales are attracted by a huge population of ghost shrimp in the mudflats off Langley’s Seawall Park, and often come within

100 yards of the beach, closer than they legally can be viewed from a boat.

This year the plan is for everyone in town to know when the whales are on the way. An old brass school bell has been put up at the entrance to Seawall Park at First and Anthes streets.

When a whale is spotted heading toward Langley, word will spread through a sophisticated telecommunications network (a phone tree) to the Langley Chamber of Commerce two blocks away on Anthes, and someone from the chamber will rush over and whack the bell with a hammer.

“That was a concession to those who worried that the bell would be rung constantly, especially at night,” said Fred Lundahl, president of the Langley Chamber of Commerce, explaining why the bell has no clapper of its own.

Installation of the bell was a combined effort by Lundahl, chamber and city officials, the Orca Network and Michael Scullin of Langley, a 17-year-old South Whidbey High School student who brought the whole thing together as part of a combined senior and Eagle Scout project.

Susan Berta, co-president Susan Berta, co-president of the local Orca Network based in Greenbank, said she got the bell about three years ago. It had belonged for years to her mother, who owned an antique store.

Berta said she thought about erecting it at Greenbank, but noting Langley’s status as “a whale-friendly village” and the fact that there were a lot more viewing spots in the city, she gave the bell to the chamber of commerce.

Lundahl said he had the bell on display for about a year out in front of his carpet and art store up the block from Seawall Park. Then he and Mayor Paul Samuelson decided it would be more effective, and louder, at the park entrance.

About that time, Scullin contacted the city, looking for project ideas.

“I chose the bell,” Scullin said. “It sounded cool.”

Samuelson sent him to city planner Fred Evander, who helped him shepherd his ideas through the city’s Design Review Board.

“We like to find projects in the city to help young people have connection with the Langley community,” Samuelson said. “It also helps them to understand how government works.”

Scullin got together with Tim Leonard of Langley, a sheet-metal worker and metal sculptor. Leonard, 38, helped Scullin design and build a frame for the bell, and two elegant metal stands to display mammal information boards provided to the city by Orca Network.

The boards are across from the Saratoga Inn on Cascade Avenue, and at the observation area halfway down the hill at the entrance to Seawall Park, near the bell.

They have illustrations and information about mammals likely to be spotted off Langley, and tell visitors what to do in the case of a stranding.

“I think it’s a great project,” Leonard said. “I was a Boy Scout. It’s a gift to the city, ultimately.”

Scullin said he started work in August, and put in about 50 hours.

“I would have been done long before this, if it hadn’t been for the snow,” he said.

He conducted fundraisers and car washes to gather the nearly $1,000 he needed for materials, and supervised crews of Scouts and other volunteers to dig and pour concrete.

He finished the project around noon on Sunday.

“I learned a lot about supervising people, managing money, business, metalworking, a lot of stuff in that vein,” Scullin said.

His parents are Jim Scullin and Gay Bitts of Langley. His father put a lot of time in on the project, Scullin said.

All that remains is to go through the Eagle Scout review process, and to finish his senior paper.

Scullin said he plans to go to college next year, but isn’t sure where, nor what he will study.

Does he like whales?

“It’s cool to see them, but I’m not really that interested in them,” he said.

Lundahl, who’s also on the board of Orca Network, said whale watching is just one more way to get people to come to Langley.

“I think the project is fantastic,” he said. “It focuses the town’s attention nicely on the water.”

Berta said Saturday’s sighting only whetted the Orca Network appetite. She can’t wait for the return of the whales, she said, especially the 10 or so “regulars” who have been showing up between March and May.

“We’re happy the city of Langley and the chamber are pro-whale,” she added. “It’s exciting to work with them.”

The city will present its annual Welcome the Whales Day Festival and Parade on Saturday, April 18, the day before Earth Day.

Presented by Orca Network and the Langley Chamber of Commerce, the festival will include activities, music, presentations and a hometown parade featuring animal costumes and props.

For information, visit http://www.visitlangley.com, or call the chamber at 221-6765.