Peninsula Daily News news sources
TAHOLAH — The annual tribal canoe journey in Washington waters reached its destination Thursday as more than 60 canoes arrived at Point Grenville on the Quinault Reservation.
The Quinault tribe will host visitors for a week of celebrations ending Tuesday.
The first event in 1989 was the Paddle to Seattle. It was organized by Emmet Oliver, a Quinault tribal elder.
Many stops
Canoes have been visiting tribal points along Puget Sound and the coast this summer on this year’s Paddle to Quinault.
Quinault Nation officials prepared for between 10,000 and 15,000 guests at Point Grenville, creating a compound with enormous tents, hundreds of portable toilets and kitchens on wheels.
The Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain escorted the canoes as they arrived on the Grays Harbor coast, KXRO News Radio of Aberdeen reported.
The pair of tall ships had provided safety and logistical support for the canoe families while they were in the open Pacific Ocean after leaving Neah Bay.
The ships’ crews will join the canoe families in celebration of the historic 1788 first meeting between the original Lady Washington and the tribes.
The wooden-hulled Lady Washington was launched in 1989. It is a replica of the original 18th-century brig and is the official ship of the state of Washington.
The 65-foot Hawaiian Chieftain, launched in 1988, is a steel-hulled modern ketch-rigged ship that was designed to resemble a 19th-century trader or packet ship.
The nonprofit Grays Harbor Seaport Authority, based in Aberdeen, operates the replicas of historic ships.
