On Friday, Quileute Tribal School students performed the annual Welcoming the Whales ceremony at First Beach in La Push under sunny skies and before a large crowd.

In 2007, the Quileute Tribe and the Quileute Tribal School students held their first Welcoming the Whales ceremony. The annual event, now in its 18th year, involves traditional songs, dances, and offerings to welcome the gray whales that migrate through the Quileute Nation’s waters.

Gray whales are known to migrate between winter calving lagoons near Mexico and summer feeding grounds in the Arctic, passing through the coast near La Push in April and May. Although whales have been spotted in the past few weeks, they did not appear during the ceremony.

Quileute Tribe and the Quileute Tribal School students dance during the Welcoming the Whales ceremony at First Beach in La Push. (Christi Baron/Olympic Peninsula News Group)

Quileute Tribe and the Quileute Tribal School students dance during the Welcoming the Whales ceremony at First Beach in La Push. (Christi Baron/Olympic Peninsula News Group)