Blaine City Council discussed preparations for the FIFA World Cup, signage upgrades to promote tourism, the fate of the downtown flower baskets and local grant funding during its regular council meeting on February 9.
During the city’s monthly town hall before the regular council meeting, business owners expressed concern over the city’s ability to attract I-5 travelers during the summer tourism season. This conversation came just as paint dried on the city’s downtown revitalization project, which limited businesses during six months of construction during the second half of 2025.
Looming over the discussion was the FIFA World Cup, which will send throngs of international soccer fans pouring into Vancouver and Seattle for games starting June 13, and Blaine business owners are hoping to siphon off a few travelers between the two soccer cities.
Mark Seymour, co-owner of Drayton Harbor Oyster Company, pointed to Taylor Swift’s 2024 concerts in Vancouver that backed up traffic from the Peace Arch border crossing into downtown Blaine for hours.
Despite the countless cars idling along Peace Portal Drive, Seymour said it was not good for businesses.
“If you talk to any of us downtown, we’re not going to rave about business being phenomenal during that time period,” Seymour said. “It was a huge hindrance, and now we’re looking at FIFA coming up.”
Seymour urged the city to hold a public meeting to discuss signage upgrades, the city collaborating with other government agencies to mitigate traffic impacts and create possible detours around the downtown core, and consulting with businesses prior to World Cup kick-off.
“Bottom line is, I think all of us business owners are in favor of having a discussion around this, and we have got great ideas, too,” Seymour said. “Nobody’s getting out of those vehicles to purchase anything in our town, so it probably requires a detour.”
City Manager Mike Harmon said the city is continuing to work closely with state and local governments for assistance on FIFA and other summer crowds.
Councilmember Sarbie Bains introduced the discussion on tourism signage and wayfinding during the January 26 council meeting. Bains, who owns Blaine Bouquets flower shop at 633 Peace Portal Drive, said the three existing wooden signs welcoming travelers into Blaine need improvement.
Bains recommended to city staff during the February 9 meeting that the signs be repainted to improve their visibility.
“The other option would be, is there any additional signage that we can add under our gateway signs so that people going into our country … can visibly see the community of Blaine and what the community has to offer?” she asked.
Councilmembers expressed support for improving signage and looking into what improvements can be made to both wayfinding signage along I-5 and the trio of wooden “Blaine Washington/The Peace Arch City” welcome signs near city limits.
“It seems like the community has requested a discussion on this as well,” Mayor Mary Lou Steward said, suggesting a study session in the next meeting. “This would give time for the business community to make proposals, council to figure out proposals and staff to figure out whether any of these would be reasonable at a study session.”
Council voted unanimously to schedule a study session for signage upgrades on Feb. 23, prior to the regular city council meeting.
After a year’s absence from the streets of downtown Blaine, council discussed bringing back the hanging flower baskets along Peace Portal Drive and the downtown side streets.
Council discontinued the program in 2024 due to the rising costs of the baskets and its impact on the Blaine Tourism Advisory Committee (BTAC) budget. City staff explored cheaper beautification projects involving smaller hanging baskets, and recently presented council with a $9,504 contract with Pacific Growers for 218 hanging baskets priced at $40 per basket. The quote from Pacific Growers was far cheaper than two other proposals from Van Wingerden and Vander Giessen Nursery, which each quoted $100 or more per basket at prices totalling around $24,000.
The hanging flower baskets are not perennials, and would need to be repurchased every year if approved by council, according to Public Works Program Manager Manroop Kaur.
Council discussed ways to lower costs, ultimately leading to a roll call vote to place baskets only along Peace Portal Drive, roughly two-thirds of what was originally planned. That roll call vote failed to pass with a 3-3 tie (Councilmember Jiggy Sorrell had an excused absence).
After a vote to reduce the scope of the project failed, Councilmember Don Enos motioned to approve the full budget for the flower baskets, but received no second.
Council discussed a $140,000 grant from Whatcom Transportation Authority (WTA) for multimodal transportation awarded to the city of Blaine, which will go toward creating five high-visibility pedestrian crossings near Blaine schools.
WTA’s Transit Access Fund provides grants to local and tribal governments for infrastructure projects within a quarter-mile of a WTA bus stop. Grant-funded projects in Ferndale, Lynden and Bellingham are underway, according to WTA.
The five rapid-flashing beacons will be on H Street at the intersections of 6th, 8th and 10th streets; the intersection of D and 8th streets, and on the intersection of Boblett Street and Mitchell Avenue.
The grant will also fund 161 feet of sidewalk improvements along Peace Portal Drive between Clark and Boblett streets. The WTA board approved the grant on February 5, and funding comes from the state Climate Commitment Act.
