It’s free car wash day at Brown Bear Car Wash and many people are taking advantage of it.
We showed up about noon and the line – well, lines – flowed into the street. Although this line looks daunting, we’re told it moves pretty quickly. They seem pretty organized, funneling people from four lines into one. An employee said they’d get through all these cars in about 15 minutes. But there’s no break for these guys. Another employee told us that it’s been like this since they opened at 8 a.m. We expect it to stay busy until they close at 8 p.m.
Busy day at Brown Bear
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
Amazing that people will spend the time (and there's gotta be at least some frustration) doing just to save $6.99
I was there this morning. Hardly took any time at all.
brown bear, brown bear, what did you see?
I saw a traffic jam, out into the street
What's a little frustration when you're getting a free car wash?
You can bet your sweet patooty that my retired mother was in line this morning waiting to get the old car scrubbed for free. I haven't checked yet but I told her about it.
I hopped in line at about 12:45 and was done in 20 minutes. I have to admit, I was skeptical that it would move that quickly, but it did.
I was around the 15th car back when I arrived and it probably took 8mins..
Got into the line around 3:45pm (4 lanes back to the entrance where the “half car” is visible on the right in the photo above) and got my wash at 4:05PM.
Yeah, I got mine done right at 8am on my way to work, and they did about 7 cars in five minutes! No kiddin'! Those guys kick butt and I'm gonna make them some cookies. Not only that but the guys at the one on 15th/52nd also grabbed my dog when she jumped out my window and ran down the street and held onto her till I picked her up (long story, when I first got her, window open a few inches, separation anxiety….all better now!). I love those guys.
I got there about 7:30 and was out by 7:50. They had a pretty smooth system going.
I went to the one down by the Magnolia bridge first thing in the morning. Only took about 10 minutes, which isn't bad considering there was a dozen or so cars ahead of me.
I got off work in the south end at 7:30 and was worried that I wouldn't make it back to Ballard in time. I was crossing the bridge around 8 so I figured I'd missed it. Went to Trader Joe's then drove by at about 8:15, they were still letting people in. Funny, I live two doors down from them, last year pulled a Cheech and Chong, drove over, got a wash and was back home in about 5 minutes.