BRINNON — A few years ago, John Smith, a Skokomish woodcarver, suggested to Keith and Val Beck of Brinnon that their community host the Skokomish canoes during the 2009 Paddle Journey.
Smith thought the experience would help bridge the gap between the Skokomish, who live at the south end of the canal and fish its waters, and Brinnon residents who also fish the canal.
About a month ago, Smith stopped by the Becks’ business on U.S. Highway 101 with an update in the plan: the Skokomish would not be the only canoes making an overnight stop in Brinnon on their way to this year’s rendezvous at Suquamish on Port Madison Bay at Bainbridge Island.
South Sound canoes
Also coming up Hood Canal were canoes from the south Puget Sound tribes — the Nisqually, the Chehalis and Squaxin Island.
“It went from five canoes to 21 — just like that,” Val Beck said.
So for the past few weeks, Beck has pulling together arrangements for the visit of 200 pullers plus support crew, friends and family that accompany them.
With the help of the community, all will be ready when the canoes arrive Thursday around noon off the beach next to Hjelvik’s Store just north of town and request permission to land.
“They’ll be greeted by a [Skokomish] tribal member, a surprise guest and Herb Beck, who is a port [of Port Townsend] commissioner,” Val Beck said.
“My husband is Herb’s nephew.”
Guest greeter
The guest greeter is a surprise for the two canoes carrying members of a tribe from New Zealand, guests of the Skokomish.
The Nisqually and Chehalis who are joining them will cross Puget Sound south to Squaxin Island, then travel along the west side of Hartstene Island to Allyn, where the canoes will be trucked to Twanoh State Park on Hood Canal.
They will join the Skokomish and the New Zealand group at the Skokomish reservation for the trip up Hood Canal on Thursday morning.
Smith told Beck that the stop in Brinnon will be the first time the Skokomish have landed on non-reservation land in the 20-year history of the paddle journey.
Paddlers from West End tribes as well as First Nations from western Vancouver Island have already begun paddling to the Suquamish tribe’s Port Madison Reservation on Bainbridge Island.
Canoes from the Quinault, Hoe and Quileute tribes are expected at Makah Bay south of Cape Flattery today, then to Neah Bay on Monday.
The tribes, joined by First Nations paddlers, are expected to pull onto Port Angeles’ Hollywood Beach, greeted by the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, on Wednesday afternoon.
They will then move on to Jamestown Beach northeast of Sequim on Friday (see accompanying story), and the accumulated journey will pull into Port Townsend on Saturday before moving down Admiralty Inlet toward Suquamish, arriving Aug. 3.
Brinnon overnighter
In all, about 500 people are expected to eat and stay overnight in Brinnon this week.
“The community is doing pretty good,” Beck said. “It’s kind of big for Brinnon.”
The largest part of the hosting duties is preparing and serving dinner for the pullers and their entourage.
The tribes are providing donated geoducks and oysters, Beck said, which community volunteers are using to make chowder to serve with garlic bread and fruit cobbler at Brinnon School.
Local restaurants are also chipping in, Beck said, and people are bringing food, making it a big potluck.
“People have also called to volunteer to pull the canoes up on the beach,” Beck said.
“People have also told me they are planning to bring their grandchildren to see the canoes.”
Dosewallips camp
There may be singing and drumming at Dosewallips State Park, where the visitors will camp.
On Friday morning, the canoe families make their own breakfasts, then return to the beach to get the canoes into the water between 6 and 7 a.m. to catch the tide.
Before heading north on Hood Canal, they will make a detour into Quilcene Bay to see the thunderbird lithograph at Pulali Point.
“This is an old fishing and tribal site a long time ago,” Beck said of the bays and beaches near Brinnon.
“That was one of the reasons for the stop — logistics and the site.”
Several of the canoes on the journey were made by Smith, who was raised between the Skokomish and Makah reservations.
In addition to carving canoes, he weaves cedar baskets and hats, and carves paddles.
The Becks’ friendship with Smith grew out of serving him as a customer, Val Beck said, and they have several of his paddles displayed in their business, McKay’s Shrimp and Crab Pots on U.S. Highway 101.
Family paddle
Smith also created a paddle for the family.
“It has a hummingbird, a symbol of the tribe, and two little hummingbirds on it for our children,” Beck said, referring to Walter, 3, and Benjamin, 1.
On Friday morning, their father will be using the family paddle to join the pullers on the next day’s journey, around the Toandos Peninsula and up Hood Canal past Port Ludlow to Port Gamble, the next overnight stop with the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe.
The next day, the canoes will proceed to Agate Passage and the Suquamish Reservation, Beck said, where all the paddle journey canoes will converge for five days of celebration.
Traditions, identity
Beck, who grew up in Orting near Puyallup, said this will the first time she has seen any of the canoe journey, an intergenerational experience designed to confirm native tradition and identity.
It originated with the Suquamish Paddle to Seattle in 1989, part of the Washington State Centennial celebration, with 15 tribes in nine canoes participating.
More than 100 canoes are expected to meet at the Suquamish Reservation near Agate Passage, but for Beck, watching the canoes to land at Brinnon will be exciting.
“Twenty-one canoes on this beach,” Beck said, “are going to be quite a sight.”
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Port Townsend/Jefferson County reporter/columnist Jennifer Jackson can be reached at jjackson@olypen.com.
