TAHOLAH — With more than twice the number of canoes expected this year than the number the Quinault tribe welcomed in 2002 as part of the annual tribal Canoe Journey, the Quinault’s leaders had to make some room.
“We’ve outgrown community gyms now,” said Quinault Tribal Journey coordinator Guy Capoeman, referring to the tribe hosting 38 canoes and accompanying families at the Taholah High School gym in 2002.
Eleven years later, as the tribe hosts the Paddle to Quinault 2013, tribal members and volunteers have torn down abandoned buildings on a tribe-owned site near Point Grenville north of Taholah to make room for week’s worth of potlatch and festivities — open to the public — when thousands of Pacific Northwest tribal members arrive for the Aug. 1-6 celebration.
“[At the] top end, we’re expecting 15,000 people here on landing day,” Capoeman said, adding that he expects 100 canoes at the Quinault reservation.
The Quinault landing will cap the 2013 Canoe Journey that will bring native tribes from locales including Washington, Oregon, Alaska and British Columbia to North Olympic Peninsula stops, where canoes are greeted and welcomed individually after a day’s journey.
Traditional welcome
Quinault tribal officials and elders will begin offering the traditional welcoming ashore July 31 near the mouth of the Queets River.
That’s the first point that visiting canoes enter Quinault territory, Capoeman said.
The reservation straddles southwest Jefferson County and northwest Grays Harbor County.
When the canoes arrive at Point Grenville on Aug. 1, the Quinault will host meals, dances and potlatches every day through Aug. 6, Capoeman said.
Individual tribal pullers, as those powering the canoes are called, will be invited to sing songs and perform dances native to their peoples.
Quinault members also will perform dances and will give presentations and offer gifts such as necklaces and drums to Canoe Journey participants.
Honoring veterans
The theme of this year’s journey is honoring tribal members who are also military veterans, Capoeman said, adding that each tribe’s “warriors” will be specially recognized during the celebrations.
“We feel that this needs to be done in our day and age, to recognize the work these folks have committed [to] in their lives,” Capoeman said.
Held almost every year since 1989, the Canoe Journey branched off from the 1989 Paddle to Seattle, started by Quinault member Emmet Oliver and Frank Brown of Bella Bella, B.C.
Oliver participating
Capoeman said Oliver, now close to 100 years old, still makes his presence known in the public welcoming ashore ceremonies — or protocol landings, as they’re called.
“He still comes and witnesses the protocols and cheers us on,” Capoeman said.
Capoeman attributed the exponential growth in the canoe journeys since 1989 to an increased awareness among Pacific Northwest tribes of how important it is to maintain their individual cultures.
“It’s one of those magical things that has just worked out as positive for tribes all around the Northwest,” Capoeman said.
“To be able to be a part of that is truly honoring for all of us.”
Schedule on Peninsula
Canoes are slated to arrive on the beach at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend on July 21, said Marlin Holden, a Jamestown S’Klallam tribal member and one of the organizers of the Fort Worden reception.
The Jamestown S’Klallam tribe is working with the Port Gamble S’Klallam and Lower Elwha Klallam tribes to organize the Port Townsend landing and establish camping areas at 4907 Landes St. in Port Townsend, a new location for this year, Holden said.
Dinner and tribal dances and songs will be hosted there that evening, Holden added.
Jamestown visit
The next day, between 30 and 40 canoes are expected to land at Jamestown Beach off Jamestown Road just north of Sequim, Jamestown S’Klallam Cultural Coordinator Vickie Carroll said.
Jamestown S’Klallam youth, tribal elders and officials will welcome the canoes to Jamestown territory with traditional greetings and songs, Carroll said.
Dinner and tribal dance performances follow at the Sequim High School cafeteria at 601 N. Sequim Ave.
“We try to get everyone’s involvement,” she said, referring to the initial welcoming.
2 days in Port Angeles
The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe will welcome canoes July 23 and continue celebrations July 24, when they’re scheduled to depart and continue their journey east along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, said Francis Charles, Lower Elwha Klallam tribal chairwoman.
Children will sing welcoming songs when the canoes land at Hollywood Beach in downtown Port Angeles.
“We always encourage our young ones to be our speakers,” Francis said.
“Talking with the young ones, they say they wish these days [would] never quit.”
Dinner and the opportunity for traditional tribal dances is planned at the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Center at 2851 Lower Elwha Road, Port Angeles, Francis said, in addition to a full breakfast the morning of July 24 before the pullers head west.
Francis said the landings at Hollywood Beach are always special because they are typically when tribes from Vancouver Island, with whom the Elwha people share ancestry, join the journey.
Neah Bay
The Makah tribe will welcome travelers at Neah Bay on July 26 and at Cape Alava on July 27, said Meredith Parker, Makah general manager.
Canoes will come ashore in Neah Bay on a stretch of beach along Bayview Avenue just east of Buchanan Street.
Dinner and traditional singing and dancing will be hosted at the Makah community gym near the Makah Marina.
“People are very excited,” Parker said. “This is the last stop before all the canoes enter the open ocean.”
The next day, canoes will be greeted at Cape Alava, between Ozette and Cannonball islands along the Pacific coast, by some 20 to 30 tribal members who plan to hike to the cape from Lake Ozette starting at about 8 a.m. that day.
They will leave the next day.
Two days in LaPush
The canoes will spend two days in LaPush from July 28 and July 29.
They will be welcomed by Quileute tribal members near the Quileute Marina, said Quileute Nation member Miss Ann Penn-Charles.
Quileute event coordinator Russell Brooks said breakfast and dinner is planned July 29 at the A-ka-lat Community Center in LaPush.
Penn-Charles said a second day in LaPush was added to offer an extra day of rest for the pullers and allow support boats to be refueled before heading south for the Quinault reservation
A welcoming by the Hoh tribe is scheduled to be the last stop July 30 before canoes reach Quinault.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
