PORT ANGELES — Hollywood Beach will serve as the meeting point Monday for at least 17 canoes participating in the Paddle to Squaxin 2012.
Once they arrive in Port Angeles, paddlers from tribes from Western Washington and Canada will enjoy two days of celebration hosted by the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.
Brenda Francis, Lower Elwha communications manager, reported that six canoes left LaPush on Friday — heading first for Neah Bay to be welcomed by the Makah on Saturday and then for a stop at Pillar Point at Clallam Bay today — and that 11 canoes are expected from the Canadian First Nations.
There will be even more if the Quinault tribe rejoins the canoe journey after a large number of people gathered Friday in Taholah for the funeral of Guy Raymond McMinds of the Quinault Indian Nation, who died July 9 at the age of 75.
The annual journey — in which tribal members paddle canoes from their homes to that of the tribe hosting a weeklong potlatch — is a cultural revival in which Native Americans honor their heritage in a drug- and alcohol-free event.
This year’s journey will end with a weeklong potlatch at Squaxin Island from Monday, July 30, to Sunday, Aug. 5.
Pillar Point today
Before the canoes arrive in Port Angeles, members of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe will greet them today at Pillar Point, where they will celebrate the pullers’ entrance into Klallam territory with a barbecue.
Francis expects the canoes to arrive in Port Angeles between noon and 4 p.m. Monday, but tribe members will be at Hollywood Beach at 10 a.m. or 11 a.m. to welcome any early arrivals with dance and song.
Each canoe will request permission to land on Lower Elwha territory and be welcomed.
Most stops along the canoe journey host the pullers only for a day, but by popular demand, Port Angeles will host for two days.
“People who come to Port Angeles usually want to stay for two days,” Francis said.
“We are very good hosts.”
After the public welcome on Hollywood Beach, pullers will retire to the Lower Elwha reservation west of Port Angeles, where they will camp at the reservation’s baseball field.
During the first night of tribal celebration, the tribes will be recognized one by one, starting with those who have traveled the farthest.
After being welcomed, each tribe will perform songs and dances.
“With all the tribes, it could go all night long,” Francis said.
Also as part of the two-day celebration will be a program presented by personnel with the tribe’s Family Advocacy Program, a group dedicated to ending sexual assault and domestic violence.
Francis anticipates the ground crews associated with the canoes will start setting up tents as early as today in an effort to secure the best possible camping spots.
When the canoes leave Port Angeles, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe will add two canoes, Elwha Lightning and Beautiful Sister, and more than 20 pullers to the journey.
The Elwha Lightning is made of fiberglass, and the Beautiful Sister, named for Vanna Francis, was hand-carved out of cedar.
Vanna Francis died at the age of 18 in 2007 when the car in which she was riding plunged into the Elwha River in a wreck that also killed Ronnie Scroggins, 15, of the Makah.
A banner with her portrait announcing the Paddle Journey hangs at the Downtown Health Center, 240 W. Front St. in Port Angeles.
In Jamestown
When Paddle to Squaxin 2012 pullers reach Jamestown on Wednesday, the canoes will line up side by side, and pullers will grab hold of the canoes next to them to form a flotilla, said Vickie Carroll, culture coordinator for the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe.
Tribal members will travel by canoe out to the flotilla and welcome the tribes, again starting with the tribe that has traveled the farthest.
Tribal Chairman Ron Allen and traditional storyteller Elaine Grinnell will be among those welcoming the pullers to the beach at 1272 Jamestown Road, Carroll said.
Carroll is expecting as many as 25 canoes from 10 to 12 tribes to arrive in the early afternoon.
“I’m hoping they come between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.,” Carroll said.
“That’s when we told them would be a good tide time.”
The tribe will shuttle the pullers to the showers at the tribe’s Community School and to the 5 p.m. dinner and evening protocol at the Sequim High School cafeteria.
“Of course, there will be fry bread,” Carroll said. “That’s a big thing for everybody.”
There also will be a children’s presentation, singing and dancing.
The pullers will camp at the Jamestown tribal property and on a few neighboring properties.
The Jamestown S’Klallam tribe will add one canoe to the paddle journey.
The canoe, made of 500-year-old cedar, is named Laxaynem (pronounced La-Kay-Num) after Lord Nelson, a subchief who signed the Point-No-Point Treaty of 1855.
Laxaynem will carry 18 pullers, which Carroll said is the most the tribe has ever sent. The youngest puller is 13 years old.
Port Townsend landing
On Thursday, the canoe journey paddlers will arrive in Port Townsend at Fort Worden State Park.
Port Townsend does not have a resident tribe, so the three sister tribes of the Klallam Nation — the Lower Elwha, Jamestown and Port Gamble — will combine to host the pullers.
Carroll said she couldn’t estimate the arrival time, saying it depends entirely upon when the pullers leave on the 51/2-hour journey from Jamestown.
When the journey reaches its final destination Saturday, July 28, the Klallam tribes will be welcomed to Squaxin Island as one nation.
“It’s very powerful,” Francis said of the reuniting of the tribes.
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Reporter Lee Horton can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5152, or at lee.horton@peninsuladailynews.com.
