PORT ANGELES — Two events at Peninsula College will celebrate Klallam culture Thursday.
From 10:30 a.m. to noon, the Peninsula College Longhouse House of Learning will be the site of a cultural fair presented by students from Port Angeles High School and the North Olympic Skills Center.
At 12:35 p.m. in the Little Theater, Suzie Bennett, Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles and Arlene Wheeler will present a Studium Generale program about bringing the cultural belongings of the Elwha people home to the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center.
Both are on the Peninsula College campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
Cultural fair
Students will offer a variety of presentations as visitors rotate through the longhouse.
Topics will include tribal history, including how Jamestown, Lower Elwha and Port Gamble all became separate tribes of Klallam people; natural resources such as salmon and cedar; Klallam songs and dances; traditional art and dwellings; Klallam language; hunting; traditional games; and the Tse-whit-zen village site, discovered on what is now Marine Drive in Port Angeles.
Teachers Jamie Valadez and Dan Lieberman have worked with students to develop a range of skills and knowledge.
A collaborative project that will become permanent art in the longhouse also will be unveiled.
Studium Generale
Charles and Wheeler worked closely with other tribal members to honor the ancestors when the Tse-whit-zen village was unearthed in 2005.
Bennett, coordinator of the Elwha Heritage Center, collaborated with curators from the Burke Museum, tribal leadership and the Elwha community to return the cultural belongings to their home.
A public reception in the longhouse will immediately follow the Studium Generale presentation.
For more information, contact Leora Gansworth, multicultural and inclusion services coordinator, at kgansworth@pencol.edu or 360-417-6345.
