Expertly carved canoes will slice through the waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca as the 2013 Paddle to Quinault brings the people-powered craft to the shores of the North Olympic Peninsula’s native tribes this week..
The public is invited to witness all the arrivals.
The first of the greetings on the North Olympic Peninsula will be at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, beginning at about 9 a.m. today.
Elders and members from the Jamestown S’Klallam, Port Gamble S’Klallam and Lower Elwha Klallam tribes will greet the pullers at the beach next to the Port Townsend Marine Life Center at Fort Worden.
The pullers and their families will be treated to dinner and invited to participate in tribal dances at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, 4907 Landes St.
Thousands of Pacific Northwest tribal members are expected to take part in the journey, hosted this year by the Quinault Nation, whose borders straddle southwest Jefferson County and northwest Grays County on the Olympic Peninsula’s central western coast.
Final destination
Quinault tribal organizers expect about 100 canoes to arrive for the open-to-the public celebration from Aug. 1-6 in Taholah, with 15,000 total canoe pullers, family, friends and others anticipated to visit the tribal community.
Quinault tribal elders and members will first meet the canoes near the mouth of the Queets River on July 31, then greet them again Aug. 1 before hosting them for a week of camping, potlatches and celebration at Point Grenville, just north of Taholah.
By then, many of the canoes will have spent more than a week on the waters off the North Olympic Peninsula.
Canoe arrivals will depend on currents and tides.
More arrivals
On Monday, about 30 canoes are expected to land at Jamestown Beach off Jamestown Road just north of Sequim starting at about 11 a.m., Jamestown S’Klallam Cultural Coordinator Vickie Carroll said.
Jamestown S’Klallam youths and elders will greet the canoes there and host a dinner and tribal dance performances at the Sequim High School cafeteria at 601 N. Sequim Ave. later that evening.
Lower Elwha Klallam tribal members likely will welcome multiple waves of canoes to Hollywood Beach in downtown Port Angeles starting as early as 9 a.m. Tuesday, said Frances Charles, Lower Elwha Klallam tribal chairwoman.
“It’s really hard to say a time because we really don’t know the water conditions and what the water’s going to be doing at that time,” Charles said.
Food, water, bathrooms and first aid will be available at Hollywood Beach, Charles said, before the canoe pullers are shuttled to the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Center at 2851 Lower Elwha Road, Port Angeles.
A Tuesday dinner and Wednesday breakfast will be hosted under a large tent outside the tribal center gymnasium while the gym is closed for repairs, Charles said.
On Thursday, the canoes will land at Pillar Point.
Neah Bay
The canoes will be greeted at Neah Bay on Friday and at Ozette on Saturday, with welcomings hosted at both locations by Makah tribal members and volunteers, Makah General Manager Meredith Parker said.
On Friday, canoes will make a “soft landing” on the beach along Bayview Avenue between Coast Guard Station Neah Bay and the Warm House Restaurant, Parker said.
Waves of canoes then will be formally welcomed by Makah tribal elders and members on the beach in front of the Makah Tribal Senior Center at 2 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. before being hosted to dinner and tribal dance performances at the Makah community gym near the Makah Marina.
As many as 50 tribal members and others are expected to greet the pullers when they land at Cape Alava after the greeters embark on a 4-mile hike from the Lake Ozette parking lot at about 10 Saturday morning, Parker said.
“We could have as many as 50 people down there to welcome the canoes at Ozette,” Parker said. “It’s just so exciting. We’re just so pumped about it.”
LaPush
The canoes then will spend two days in LaPush, hosts of the Quileute Nation, after they come into Quileute Marina on July 28.
“It depends on the tides and times they leave Ozette for us,” Quileute Nation member Miss Ann Penn-Charles said, referring to when the canoes might arrive July 28.
“It takes about four to six hours, depending on tide.”
Quileute organizers have planned a July 28 dinner and July 29 breakfast at the A-Ka-Lat Community Center in LaPush.
Elders and members of the Hoh tribe will meet the fleet of canoes near the mouth of the Hoh River on July 30, Hoh Tribal Chairwoman Maria Lopez said Friday.
Lopez said she expects the canoes to arrive there between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., depending on tides.
Pullers and their families then will be shuttled to a dinner at the Hoh gymnasium on Lower Hoh Road, Lopez said.
“This is the largest event this tribe has ever seen,” Lopez said.
“A lot of time and planning has gone into this, and we’re very honored to be able to host.”
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
