If you’re one of the thousands of people expected to attend the 2016 Paddle to Nisqually Canoe Journey Landing Day on July 30, get ready to hop on a shuttle. The east side of the Port Peninsula will be completely blocked, open to the public but with no public access parking.
The Port of Olympia will be providing moorage for the support boats traveling with the expected 120 canoes representing more than 50 tribes from the Pacific Northwest, Canada, and Alaska. Partnering with the City of Olympia and the Nisqually Tribe as hosts for Landing Day, the week-long event kicks off on July 30 and ends on August 6. “We’re taking care of all the water safety logistics and the landside logistics for Landing Day,” says Jennie Foglia-Jones, Marketing and Community Relations Coordinator for the Port of Olympia. “The city is organizing parking, shuttles, traffic control, restrooms and vendors, and we’re organizing facilities, canoe movement logistics, elder parking and many other items including volunteer coordination. This event has a lot of moving parts.”
The Port is seeking between 350 to 400 volunteers, roughly the same number they had when the Squaxin Island Tribe hosted the event in 2012. “We need assistance with everything from helping volunteers check in to getting volunteers their meals,” says Foglia-Jones. “There’s also the logistics of moving canoes, providing information booths, green team and parking support. Some support will be needed with mooring boats. A lot of people are needed to make it happen down here.”
With as many as 18,000 people expected to attend this year’s event, the journey provides an opportunity to showcase the region while celebrating its cultural heritage. “The economic impact for Thurston County is substantial,” says Foglia-Jones. “On Landing Day alone, thousands of people will be experiencing Olympia and the Port property.”
The Canoe Journey is the continuation of ancient tradition. “For thousands of years, our ancestors would travel up and down the coast and in Puget Sound,” says Sheila McCloud, Nisqually Tribal Secretary. “It was a time for bartering with other tribes for game, shells, and baskets but also a time for social connection. There was a lot of intermarrying.”
The tradition had largely died out under the weight of U.S. government assimilation policies, but began to revive in the late 1970s and early 80s, culminating in the Paddle to Seattle in 1989 as part of Washington State’s Centennial celebration. In keeping with tribal practices, the event is drug and alcohol-free. “From the beginning there were challenges laid down,” says McCloud. “Every year a tribe that was not landlocked would step up.”
Hosting is a huge responsibility. In preparation, the tribe has cleared 40 acres of land that will include a campsite as well as tents for protocol, elders, media, first aid, recycling, and spiritual practices. “We’ll be providing activities for children down at our youth center,” says McCloud. “It’s our responsibility to provide breakfast and dinner, so we’ll be renting kitchen units as well as showers on wheels. Anything that it takes to have a makeshift village, we’ll have.”
The tribe is committed to hand-making gifts for all of the participants, so volunteers are also needed to help with making 2016 small baskets. “It’s quite a process,” says McCloud. “Not only do you have to teach people how to weave a basket, we also have to harvest and cure all the cedar. It’s almost like a tanning process.”
To assist, they’ve brought in Yvonne Peterson and Trudy Marcellay of the Chehalis tribe, daughters of legendary basket maker Hazel Pete and members of the Hazel Pete Institute of Chehalis Basketry. Pete received the Governor’s Heritage Award in 2001 and was a designated Master Artist through the Washington State Arts Commission Folk Arts Program. McCloud is related to the Pete family through marriage and calls them ‘life-long friends,’ again emphasizing the family connections between different tribes. “The Indian community feels that we are all family,” she says. “It’s truly an honor to bring all of our people here.”
Foglia-Jones echoes that sentiment. ”Being a part of a cultural event of this magnitude is an honor for the Port,” she says. “We want to put our best foot forward to welcome everyone into our community.”
To learn more about volunteering for the Canoe Journey, visit the Port of Olympia’s volunteer website dedicated to the event.
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