PORT TOWNSEND — The third annual Womxn’s Wave will march though downtown Port Townsend next Sunday, with organizers expecting to surpass last year’s estimated attendance of 4,000 people.
The local Womxn’s Wave is part of the an international Womxn’s March initiative that will hold events around the world. This will be the only such march — which will focus on dignity, equal rights and justice for all — on the Olympic Peninsula, organizers said
“By holding the march on Sunday, we are intentionally reaching out to the entire Olympic Peninsula and working to mobilize them,” said Zhaleh Almaee, who will serve as mistress of ceremonies for the march along with Port Townsend High School senior Hannah Bahls.
“We’re encouraging people to go to Seattle on Saturday the 19th to be counted and support the national movement.” Almaee said. “Then we want them to come home and do it again by engaging in the local movement and our issues.
“We want to support the national effort, but we want to bring all that energy here.”
Saturday’s Seattle Womxn’s March and Rally will begin with a rally at 9 a.m. at Cal Anderson Park, 1635 11th Ave. on Capitol Hill and march downtown 45 minutes later. Panel discussions are planned at the Seattle Center, at 305 Harrison St.
Members of PT Indivisible will gather at the Haines Place Park & Ride at 6 a.m. Saturday and will ask people if they are willing to carpool. Organizers request those who have them to wear their pink pussy hats to identify themselves as marchers.
Emelia De Souza is the lead organizer of the Port Townsend march.
Participants will congregate at 10 a.m. next Sunday at the Flagship Mall parking lot next to Quimper Mercantile on Water Street.
The Unexpected Brass Band will play music and and Sabrina Hill, a Makah tribal member living in Port Townsend, will offer a blessing of the crowd.
At 11 a.m., the march will move along Water Street, ending at Pope Marine Park where a rally and program will be presented.
Speakers will include Indigenous Women standing for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Jefferson County Immigrant Rights Advocates, and Young Voices standing for LGBTQ+ rights and environmental justice, among others. Therese Lehman and Kurt Grinnell, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Council members, will offer a welcome.
Rally highlights include original music by local high school student Annika Pearl and the spoken word by Port Angeles resident Shewa Dedeke.
From 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., a community dialogue is set in the Pope Marine Building.
Speakers on affordable housing include Aislinn Palmer of Bayside Housing Services, Siobhan Canty, executive director of the Jefferson Community Foundation, and Annie Lovato of Dove House. Jackie Levin of Jefferson Healthcare hospital will discuss health care rights.
At the Cotton Building, 20 organizations will offer information on services and support.
“Our primary objective is to help maintain safety for all participants,” Almaee said.
”Our Peacekeepers Team is a group of volunteers organized to support people of all genders as they gather together. This includes both literal safety and the feeling of safety and inclusion that we wish for all participants to experience.
“We will help to establish and maintain safety by use of non-violent intervention and through rapid response in coordination with local police should circumstances become violent.”
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Jeannie McMacken can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jmcmacken@peninsuladailynews.com.
